But God’s love is unfailing March 11, 2024
Psalm 103:11 The Lord’s unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
Other English translations render checed or hesed, “unfailing love,” as mercy, kindness, lovingkindness, steadfast love, faithful love, gracious love, and loyal love (also in verses 8 and 17). How does God make his love visible in the world? Through us, his Body, his hands and feet, animated by the Spirit within us, not motivated by any agenda other than love. But is this possible? Can we in fact, messy, broken, proud, self-centered and self-deceiving as we are, come even close to imaging God’s hesed love?
Litany of Penitence 7
For our blindness to human need and suffering,
And our indifference to injustice and cruelty,
Lord, have mercy upon us:
For we have sinned against you.
I like the fact that today’s confession comes after we’ve acknowledged our pride, vanity, hypocrisy, dishonesty, exploitation of others, self-indulgence, and all the rest of the sins named so far. Because it’s so easy
1) to reach out to others to be noticed for how good and generous we are and
2) to blindly believe we know best what other people need, without taking the time to listen and understand their stories or their deeper wounds and struggles and to respect what they say they need, and
3) to unconsciously feel and project that we are somehow “better” than others because we think we have to be better to earn God’s favor or approval and to feel OK about ourselves. Too often we re-write history to favor ourselves, when in fact the reality is appalling.
Such “helping” may not help at all. It may cause more harm that good. I’ve been there. I struggle with these three vulnerabilities all the time. All the time. They push me back to the mercy of God and his love for me as his child, with nothing to prove, everything to learn, and only gratitude to express.
Jesus walked, sat, listened, ate, played, laughed, grieved, danced, wept, and shared himself with people. He didn’t worry about what was PC or would win him likes. He dared to speak truth to power, with integrity, from his heart. He freed people from all kinds of oppression and lies, in many unorthodox ways, including from the unbearable rules of performative religion.
And his unfailing, compassionate, faithful, gracious love took him to the cross, where in the midst of his agony he said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
Debra Kornfield 
This message is so poignant and perfect. I know this happens to me. I notice it more and more as future generations present themselves to me in my own family. I feel an urgency in providing a message for them even knowing they are safely in God’s hands all the while just a little anxious about whether that is enough. How self-centered is that thought! I try to remember that perhaps the best we can do is to continue to pass the message of their Creator to them reminding them of His wonder and His care and teaching them the stories of Jesus. I have come to know that it is most important to let our littlest of children know that we, like them, are also children of God and are watched over and guided along in similar ways even as grown ups. It goes to mistakes as well as the protections and all forgiving Love as well. What more can we do! Meredith D.
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That’s a question I ask all the time, Meredith. We need God’s wisdom daily.
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Dear Debbie, I know Greg already wrote re: this blog entry from March 11. But I am also writing to you because I want you to know how your words touched my heart. I was given a book with empty pages when we first returned. I have been unsure how I wanted to use it. But the Lord spoke to me about recording the stories of those He has enabled us to help, by channeling resources He has entrusted to us for a wide variety of needs. When I read and pondered your entry, “Our helping can harm” *I was reminded that “living by faith” is *not just when we don’t have resources *and need to rely on God (which is how it is often used), but even moreso *when we DO have resources and need to be accountable for investing them in His Kingdom and His glory, not our own “pride of life” decisions.
I realized that your “three vulnerabilities” would be a fitting cover page as Greg and I ponder the* “hesed” *love of God and our desire to be channels. So, although I didn’t ask permission, I did give “credit” to you as I prayerfully printed out some of your thoughts and concluded with Psalm 103:11.
Now, having had a sweet time to confess all the fleshly complications you highlighted, I feel ready to begin a PRAISE list to Jesus for those we have been able to assist during hard times in their lives since we have been back here in this country of our calling since 1973. In honesty, I previously just felt thankful and happy if we could help in their times of suffering and regretful if we couldn’t. But your thoughts have taken me to a deeper level of engagement with the lives behind the stories we hear almost daily of ongoing and often desperate needs.
Thank you so much, Debbie! Love, Denyse
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May the Lord keep us humble, listening, discerning … in the complexity of all the needs that come to our attention. I’m so glad this was helpful, Denyse. Thank you for affirming that. It means a lot to me.
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