Faithful Love

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Image of ḥesed in Hebrew, Anglicized, and translated as "faithful love"

Eight times in today’s Bible reading*, we come across the term “faithful love”. Half of those times, the term appears in Psalm 103. So what is “faithful love”?

The Hebrew word behind “faithful love” is ḥesed (with the h pronounced as a guttural ch). It is also translated as “kindness”, “lovingkindness”, “faithfulness”, “steadfast love”, or “loyal love”. It is the most frequent word for love in the Old Testament, occurring 250 times.

A deeper dive into ḥesed reveals that it is the deep love expressed in God’s covenant relationship with His people. It is the guiding principle for How He deals with them throughout the Bible.

The first time the word appears is in Genesis 24:12, 14 when Abraham’s servant prays that God would show His faithful love to Abraham by giving a wife to Isaac. Immediately following his prayer, he sees Rebekah, who offers water for him and his camels, in direct answer to his prayer. He knows that God has shown his favor to him.

Application

If you are a Believer, God deals with you in the context of a covenant relationship. Everything He does and the way that He deals with you is bound by His covenant, sealed in the blood of Jesus. He will never leave you and He can never turn His back on you.

Spend some time today thanking God for dealing with you in love.

God’s faithful love endures forever.

* Chapters covered in today’s reading:
Psalms 32
Psalms 86
Psalms 102
Psalms 103
Psalms 122

This devotional was originally published on May 5, 2021.


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