365 Days of the Great Names of God, Day 170: He Is Faithful To His Name

He Is Faithful To His Name

"I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name." (Psalm 138:2b NLT)

“Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me.’ " (Ruth 1:8 NIV)

We're leading off with two verses today because I think both are needed to introduce one of the most beautiful aspects of God's name. 

At the moment, our NOG journey is taking us into the book of Ruth and to another actual journey: that of Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, back to her homeland. The idea of a journey is a central theme in Ruth and take-away for us, because we, too, are all going somewhere. If we have put our faith in Jesus, we are journeying toward heaven. And on the way, we need to both give and get something else that’s a repeated refrain in the “song” of Ruth: "hesed."

My spell-check didn’t like that word, probably because it’s not set up to recognize Hebrew, but I promise you this is a gorgeous term that you’re going to want to make your word-of-the-day. In our English translations, the Hebrew word hesed is translated “kindness,” as in Ruth 1:8. Hesed does carry the idea of kindness, but it’s so much more multifaceted than that. In "The New American Commentary," Daniel I. Block describes hesed as “a strong relational term that wraps up in itself an entire cluster of concepts—love, mercy, grace, kindness, goodness, benevolence, loyalty, covenant faithfulness: in short, that quality that moves a person to act for the benefit of another without respect to the advantage it might bring to the one who expresses it.”

Is it just me, or does that list of concepts wrapped up in hesed read a lot like a list of qualities reflected by God's names? And of course, it would: God's name tells who He is, and He is faithful to His name because He cannot be other than who He is.

Ruth repeatedly shows hesed to Naomi. And later (teaser alert), someone else will show hesed to Ruth. But back to our journeys: who needs your hesed today? I have a feeling a few of them live in your house or show up at your workplace or sit next to you in church. If you’re thinking that showing this kind of loving-kindness is beyond you, you’re right: it’s beyond all of us, but it’s not beyond God. In fact, it’s Who His name says He is, and He’s waiting to lavish it on us so extravagantly that it fills us up and oozes out of us and lands on the people He has called us to love and serve.

Oh God, You are faithful to Your name. Help me to make it known.