The Pursuit of God addresses a central crisis in modern religious life: the substitution of mechanical orthodoxy, theological formulas, and elaborate church programs for true spiritual vitality. Tozer argues that human beings were created for personal communion with God, yet through sin they have fled His manifest Presence and filled their hearts with worldly possessions and self-centered desires. The fundamental problem is not a lack of correct doctrines, but a profound absence of experiential knowledge of God, leaving believers starving at the Father's table.
The central argument develops the necessity of a total spiritual reorientation. Tozer begins by explaining that the human pursuit of God is only possible because God first draws the soul through prevenient grace. However, this divine drawing requires an active human response. The major barrier to this communion is the stubborn self-life—the deeply ingrained habit of possession and the constant assertion of self-righteousness, self-pity, and self-sufficiency. This self-life acts as an opaque veil that shuts out the light of God.
Overcoming this barrier requires radical renunciation. Drawing on the Old Testament story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac, Tozer illustrates that God must remove every rival from the heart's central shrine before He can reign there unchallenged. True spiritual poverty means breaking the tyranny of things, abandoning all claims of personal ownership, and embracing a state of complete surrender. When a person lets go of everything, they discover the paradox of possessing nothing while truly enjoying all things in God.
Faith is presented not as a once-done mechanical act or an abstract definition, but as the continuous gaze of the soul upon a saving God. By looking away from self and fixing the heart's attention on Jesus, the believer's spiritual faculties are quickened. This inward gaze transforms daily existence, breaking down the artificial barrier between the sacred and the secular. When every act is performed to the glory of God and offered with a pure motive, the entire life becomes sacramental.
Ultimately, the book calls believers to lay down their pride, pretense, and self-defense, returning to the simplicity of childlike trust. By acknowledging their utter helplessness and exalting God above all worldly possessions, ambitions, and reputations, they step out of religious complexity and enter a permanent state of soul rest and uninterrupted fellowship with the Creator.
