God’s Mercy/Hesed

GOD’S MERCY/HESED

Often as we study Scripture we find depths of meaning in words that express in their original language so much more than our modern word in English does. Perhaps it is because our day-to-day language becomes too commonplace to convey the richness of the ideas conveyed by the words we use so commonly today. Hesed, (Hebrew) the mercy of God, is certainly one of those words. We would be living with no hope if it were not for Hesed, the ever-faithful, relentless, constantly pursuing, lavish, extravagant, unrestrained, furious love of God. His merciful love goes so much deeper than we can either comprehend or explain. What a blessing to take these moments to explore and celebrate together Hesed, God’s bedrock of merciful love.

This verse beautifully expresses the truth of mercy discovered in the lives of countless children of God down through the ages. Surely Noah could have penned these words, or Abraham, or Moses, or Ruth, or David, or Mary, the mother of Jesus, or John or Peter or Paul. No matter what the morning may bring, God’s mercies are always true, deep and eternal. Praise the Lord!  . . .

. . . And God’s kindness and mercy based upon His love for us even when we lay dead in our sin and disobedience, raised us up to live with Chirst, for by grace we are being saved, even now and forever. He, indeed, raises us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Praise the Lord! . . .

. . . And He saves us even though we can never do enough righteous things to earn salvation. He does so because His mercy is enough and more than enough to save each of us. Through the Holy Spirit he gives us rebirth and cleansing through the sacrifice and triumph of Jesus. Praise the Lord! . . .

. . . And Jesus teaches us to go and learn to understand God’s desire for mercy and not sacrifice. And Jesus further explains He has come to call those who realize and repent of their sinfulness. And elsewhere in Scripture we are reminded, “Threre is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10) So it is God’s mercy and His mercy alone which leads us to salvation.  Praise the Lord! . . .

And so we are warned that if we have experienced God’s mercy it will be demonstrated in the mercy we give to others. God’s mercy recreates, it redeems, our own hearts and minds so that we extend to others the same mercy we have received. Praise the Lord! . . .

Psalm 23:6
Surely your goodness and mercy
will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.

David, God’s Shepherd King, sums it all up: For those who have received mercy, there comes an abundance of mercy every day of our lives both here in this life and forever. With mercy there is no darkness we cannot face. Without mercy there is no hope we can find. Praise the Lord for His Hesed/Mercy!

It Takes An Almighty And A Loving God

It takes an almighty and a loving God
to grant Hesed/Mercy as we need
for each and every one of us
since we have failed to do what’s right;
we find our lives so much less than He intends
as we search in vain for happiness
but find instead just hopelessness
with no true encouragement;
but God Himself sent His  own beloved Son
who lived a perfect life so He could
become our sacrificial lamb
and chose to die to prove God’s Love—
He bore our sin on our deserved cross
and was laid inside a sinner’s tomb
Incarnate God laid deep in dust—
Creation groaned, how could it be?
Mercy acts as God intends revealing
love so deep that dark death is slain
when resurrection rises up and
redeems us who turn to Him.

HESED
(GOD’S MERCY)

Unquestionably
God’s Hesed/Mercy
consistently
and mercifully
speaks with kindness
forever faithful
relenlentless without tiring
eternally pursuing
lavishly and
extravagantly
and unrestrained
the furious
yet redeeming
love of God.