Happy Sunday beloved, I hope you are still well and in good health. If you tried to describe what God is like, it could be difficult or daunting. But when people who wrote the Bible pondered the mystery of God, they consistently described God's character in this way.
Compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, overflowing with loyal love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6). I'm going to look at this fourth phrase, "loyal love." It translates the Hebrew word "khesed" which is hard to translate into any language because it combines the ideas of love, generosity and enduring commitment all into one.
Khesed describes an act of promise keeping loyalty that is motivated by deep personal care. Like in the story of Ruth, she's a foreigner married to an Israelite man but tragically the husband dies, along with his brother and his father. All Ruth has left is her widowed mother in-law, Naomi. Who has nothing to give her. Naomi tells Ruth she should go back to her people, but instead Ruth promises to stay by Naomi's side and take care of her. As other people watch Ruth keep this promise over time, they call it an act of khesed (Ruth 3:10).
Notice that Ruth's khesed is not conditional or based on Naomi's worth. Rather, it's an expression of Ruth's character, she's just a generous and loving person who keeps her word. in the same way, Ruth's loyal love is truly inspiring, but the one who shows the most enduring khesed is God.
God is the ultimate expression of khesed because He showed His loyal love to His people throughout the Bible. Like in the story of Jacob, who is a treacherous liar even to his own family. But despite that, God chooses him and repeat the promise He made to Jacob grandfather, Abraham. And so, 20 years later when Jacob realises how underserving he is, he says to God, "I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me..." (Genesis 32:10 NLT). And he's right, but God's loyal love was never about Jacob's worth in the first place. It's a display of God's generous loyalty to His promise.
God's loyal love continues in the story of Jacob's descendants, the Israelites. When they are enslaved by Pharaoh in Egypt. God remembered His promise to Abraham, Jacob, so God defeats Egypt and raises up Moses to liberate the people and lead them into the promised land read, (Exodus 2:24). And in the story, this is called the act of khesed (loyal love) because it was about God keeping His word.
Now, on their way to the promised land, the Israelites are scared of the nations around them. And doubt that God can protect them. So, people threaten to kill Moses and appoint a new leader to take them back to Egypt. God is understandably hurt and angry but Moses steps in and says, "In keeping with your magnificent, unfailing love, please pardon the sins of this people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt"(Numbers 14:19 NLT).
Notice that Moses asked God to forgive not because the people deserved it, but because it is consistent with God's own character. And God agrees and He recommits Himself to a people that don't want to be committed to Him. In the Bible, God is loyal and loving for no other reason than it's just who God is. Of course, He want His people to respond with loyal love in return but even when they don't, God loyal love remains!
The prophet Hosea compared Israel's khesed to a morning mist that's there one moment and gone the next. But God's loyal love is enduring. Like in the celebration of Psalm 136 that opens by saying, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever" (Psalms 136:1 NLT). Then 26 times repeats, "His loyal love is forever." And so, after the centuries of Israel betraying their commitment to God, and after humanity's long history of violence and death, God still kept His promise in a dramatic and drastic way.
By becoming human and binding Himself to us in the person of Jesus. And people who followed Jesus of Nazareth said that in Him they encountered the God of Israel who is full of love and faithfulness. Jesus is the ultimate loyal and loving human and, in His life, death, resurrection God opened up a new future way for all of us and for all creation.
And God did this because it's just who God is. Generous, loving and eternally loyal to His promises. And when we experience the purity and power of God's loyal love shown through Jesus, it compels us to reimagine why and how we can show loyal love back to God and to people around us. #loyallove #enduringlove #faithfullove #havefaith #grace #mercy #explorepage
