Abounding in Love and Faithfulness

The next part of God’s name is “abounding in love and faithfulness.”

In Hebrew, “love and faithfulness” is hesed and emet.

To start, hesed. This is a sweeping, panoramic word that we really have no equivalent for in English. It can be translated as “steadfast love” or “unfailing love” or “covenant loyalty.”

This is one of the most important aspects of God’s character. It’s the only character trait that is repeated. We read it here—“abounding in love and faithfulness”—and then in the next line, “maintaining love to thousands.” Meaning, this is one of the truest things there is about Yahweh: he’s abounding—spilling over, way past capacity—in hesed.

But also in emet, or faithfulness. Literally, the word means “truth.” It can also be translated as “trustworthy.” It has the idea of reliability. You can count on this God Yahweh. He won’t let you down.

Now, when you put hesed and emet together, it’s incendiary.

Meaning God’s love is his faithfulness. And God’s faithfulness is his love.

Hesed and emet are about God’s loyalty—how he never, ever abandons his people, but he’s faithful to the bitter end, no matter the cost.

But there are times when it doesn’t feel that way. When it feels like God is anything but faithful. When your wife is ninety and still not pregnant and you think, God, where are you?

When we say that God is faithful, we don’t mean you’ll never experience suffering. God never said we would live trouble-free. Honestly, Jesus made the opposite promise: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Our hope isn’t that nothing bad will ever happen to us.

Or that everything that does happen to us is “the will of God.”

Our hope is that no matter what happens to us, Jesus is back from the dead, and anything is possible.

Yes, sometimes things go horribly wrong. But the resurrection is a megaphone turned up to 11, screaming, God is bigger than evil! And stronger than death! The empty tomb dwarfs every tragedy we ever face with his promise to make all things beautiful in their time.

Now let’s flip it around—from God to us.

Are we faithful?

Think about the implications this has for marriage. Or think about your career. Or think about your city and your place in it—church and neighborhood and relationships.

The question I want to leave you with is this: Where has God called you to be faithful?

What comes to mind?

Whatever it is, the odds are that it will be hard work. It will be painfully slow. And frustrating at times. The best things in life always are. But trust me, it will be worth it.