Monday, August 21, 2017

Psalms 106 - Chesedic Love


Aug. 21, 2017 Monday Message:

“Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalms 106:1 NIV

In the Hebrew Bible, “Praise the Lord” is simply “Hallelujah.” “Hallelu” means praise or exalt – like saying “thank-you” to God for all He has done for us. “Jah” or “Yah” is God’s name. Some people translate God’s name as Jehovah or Yahweh, but the truth is that we don’t know the correct pronunciation of his name. Shout it out - Hallelu-Jah!

“His love endures forever” describes a special kind of love: chesed or khesed in Hebrew. There are many degrees of love, but the English language only gives us one word – love. When we say, “I love my car,” “I love my wife,” or “I love my God,” they have very different meanings.

Chesed love is similar to the love a parent has for their child. The child might be far from perfect, but the parent still loves the child simply because it’s a parent/child relationship. God told David that He would be a Father to David’s son Solomon. Jesus taught us to pray to “our Father in heaven.” It’s that love-of-a-child relationship that God has for his people.

Older translations of the Bible used the words “everlasting lovingkindness” to describe chesed. That’ll engage “auto-correct” or at least “spell-checker” nowadays, but it clearly describes God’s love.

All people matter to God. Therefore all people should matter to us.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers next Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, 3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Lead Pastor Michael Pilla brings a message from God’s Word.

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