Short answer: In The Pursuit of God, “follow hard after God” means a grace-awakened, persistent clinging to God in faith, desire, obedience, and love. The phrase comes from Psalm 63:8 in the Bible wording Tozer used. Its two halves belong together: the believer follows after God, and God’s right hand upholds the believer.
The phrase comes from Psalm 63:8
Tozer opens Chapter 1, “Following Hard after God,” with Psalm 63:8. In the 1948 public-domain text, the verse places human pursuit beside divine support. Tozer then makes that relationship the theological doorway into the chapter.
The expression should therefore not be heard as frantic spiritual effort. The pursuing soul is not trying to persuade an absent or unwilling God to become interested. The psalm itself presents desire and dependence together.
Read the line inside Psalm 63, not by itself
Psalm 63 is a wilderness psalm. The worshiper describes thirst, remembers God, praises Him, meditates during the night, finds satisfaction in Him, and then speaks of clinging to God while being upheld by God’s hand.
That movement gives “follow hard” its emotional and spiritual shape. Pursuit is not one dramatic moment. It is a continuing orientation toward God in a setting where ordinary supports feel thin.
Tozer’s first safeguard is grace
Immediately after the opening verse, Tozer argues that God’s initiative comes before the believer’s response. His point is not that human desire creates grace. The desire to seek is itself evidence that God is already at work.
That allows Chapter 1 to hold together two truths Christians often separate: God is prior, and the believer truly responds. Grace does not make pursuit unnecessary; grace makes faithful pursuit possible.
What “hard” should not imply
- Not earning salvation. Prayer, Scripture, obedience, and worship do not purchase justification or adoption.
- Not emotional intensity. Quiet faithfulness in a dry season can be genuine pursuit.
- Not spiritual competition. Longer devotions or stronger feelings do not make one Christian superior.
- Not neglect of responsibility. Following God often happens through the duties already entrusted to us.
- Not endless introspection. The direction of pursuit is toward God, not toward constant measurement of the self.
A helpful modern paraphrase: cling and keep following
Without trying to replace the biblical wording, the idea can be summarized this way: cling to God and keep moving toward Him because He is already holding you. That captures the chapter’s balance better than “try harder spiritually.”
Clinging includes trust when circumstances are difficult. Following includes obedience when God’s will crosses comfort or self-protection. Both are relational responses to the God already known by grace.
How this page differs from the Chapter 1 summary
The Chapter 1 summary explains the chapter’s entire argument: prior grace, spiritual hunger, personal knowledge of God, and the paradox of finding God while still pursuing Him. This page has a narrower job: understanding the specific phrase that gives the chapter its title.
For the broader biblical question of whether seeking God after salvation is legitimate, use Is Pursuing God Biblical?.
A seven-day ‘follow and uphold’ practice
- Read Psalm 63:1–8 each morning. Notice what David desires, remembers, and trusts.
- Name one competing attachment. Identify one thing receiving more governing attention than it should.
- Choose one act of obedience. Make it concrete enough to complete that day.
- End with the second half of the verse. Thank God that faithful response does not rest on self-sufficiency.
- Review after seven days. Ask whether pursuit became more obedient, not merely more emotional.
The Kingdom Pathway handoff
Pathway 1 explains how Tozer uses the language of pursuit. The larger New Testament question—how a believer continues in living dependence on Christ—belongs in the next stage of the catalogue.
Continue to Kingdom Pathway 2 — Abide in Me when the focus shifts from Tozer’s phrase to the biblical life of remaining in Christ.