Read: Exodus 34:1-10
The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. (v. 6)
Sometimes I worry that the word love has lost its meaning. People say they love their spouse and their children, and in the next breath they say they love coffee, or their favorite television show. People also seem to fall out of love as quickly as they fall into it. What is love worth if it is so thoughtlessly given and taken away?
In the Old Testament, God uses a very specific word to describe his love. The word is khesed, and it’s always translated with an extra descriptive word: unfailing love, faithful love, or steadfast love. One of my Old Testament professors called khesed God’s “bitter love” because, in her words, “It is covenant love that costs God everything.” In Genesis, God makes a covenant with Abraham and his descendants. In Exodus, God claims Abraham’s descendants as his covenant people and delivers them from certain death. God seals his covenant by giving the law at Mount Sinai. Almost immediately, the people break the covenant through idolatry with the golden calf. But God’s steadfast love is not so easily broken. Moses presents new stone tablets and reintroduces God using his most personal name: “Yahweh . . . slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (v. 6). It’s as if khesed is God’s last name.
God’s steadfast love came to perfect expression when he took on flesh. We are fallen human beings who cannot help breaking God’s rules. But his love for us is unbreakable.
As you pray, trust in God’s steadfast, unfailing love.
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
