Living in Light of He-sed

²²The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. ²³They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 

Lamentations 3:22–23 (NASB95) 

I have been thinking on this word translated lovingkindness for several days. It is translated elsewhere as God’s great love, or faithful love and speaks of the immovable commitment of God to His own promises toward us as His people. Whereas compassions (mercies) is responsive and forgiving in nature, His lovingkindnessesare assertive. He asserts His great and faithful love toward us. 

The Hebrew word (transliterated he-sed) appears in its various forms 286 times in the Hebrew scriptures. A constant reminder that our standing, our relationship, our benefit of relationship to God results from His unceasing and great love, not our faithfulness to it. 

Now, here is where my heart was stirred in my morning quiet time and it connected uncoincidentally with this last line from a Puritan Prayer entitled “Caring Love” from The Valley of Vision: “May thy goodness always lead me to repentance, and thy longsuffering prove my salvation.”

God’s loyal love toward us is a gift, not a right or entitlement. It should provoke wonder, not apathy. It fosters confidence but not arrogance. It promotes harmony rather than haughtiness. 

As with the Puritans, we ought to consider the he-sed of God and be moved—not to some libertine expression of life without restraint, but with a commitment to holiness…to a life of ongoing, intentional, willful repentance before God as He (Holy Spirit) exposes with the gracious floodlights of God’s vision, the rebellion of our hearts. May we not ever take for granted the loyal love, the he-sed of God and treat it as less than it is. May it provoke us toward greater affection, more intentional service, and more grounded confidence in God…to His glory.