5 1/2 years ago I was diagnosed with cancer. Because they had difficulty determining the type of cancer, I headed to Mayo Clinic in Arizona (along with my husband, John), and a great team of doctors. As we went into an appointment with the radiologist, I realized how scared I was about undergoing radiation. After meeting with us for a bit, this young doctor said, “I want to tell you that I know who you are.” He went on to tell us about hearing John speak at an event several years earlier…the crazy part is that John is not well known or a regular speaker. It was wild and weird to hear in that moment, and so so comforting. It was if God was saying to me, “I know who you are…I’ve got you…I love you.”
Hesed is the Hebrew word that describes this love God has for us (used 248 times in the Old Testament). My friend, Pat, has studied Hebrew extensively. I asked him to help me understand this concept of hesed love. Hesed has been translated as lovingkindness (a made-up word for a hard to describe wonder of God).
Pat describes hesed as the kind of unconditional, unfailing love that doesn't stop flowing toward its recipient based upon their response. God’s movement, His posture is always toward us. God cannot NOT be who he is, and he is hesed love.
Pat went on to declare that the universe has hesed written into the stars and into our skin. So beautiful. He compared it to a mother’s love (think of Harry Potter’s mother marking his forehead with her love, protecting him from He Who Must Not Be Named.)
Consider the beloved Psalm 23 which uses hesed in the last verse: Surely goodness and mercy (hesed) will follow you all the days of your life. And The Message version says, Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.
I find it so encouraging, so powerfully comforting, to imagine hesed love chasing after me every day of my life, no matter what. This love is not dependent on my situation or my emotions or even my response.
If you can (even tonight as you are drifting off to sleep), ask God to bring a memory of a time when you felt His love for you. Maybe it was through the love or kindness of another person, or some answer to prayer, or something beautiful. Or maybe a way you felt His care for you in a particularly dark season. His hesed love never stops chasing after us.