More than Love
“Deal with your servant according to your love and teach me your decrees.
I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.”
Today’s Text: Psalm 119:121-136 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
God is more than love. Our concept of love doesn’t quite capture the full meaning of the Hebrew word that is translated as “love” in the NIV. We can tell that the Hebrew word is a lot richer than any simple sense of love in the English language by how the various Bibles translate that word: “steadfast love” in the ESV, “faithful love” in the CSB, “graciousness” in the NASB.
Even then, those translations don’t quite capture the true meaning of the word. A more accurate translation might be something like “covenantal, loving-kindness, faithfulness, graciousness, and mercy.”
Maybe given the rich complexity of that Hebrew word, NIV’s “love” is the best way to go. But we have to remember that we are not talking about love on a human scale, but love on God’s scale.
God is more than love. God is חֶסֶד (chesed). Maybe the English language could just adopt that word and make it a part of our understanding about God.
And at the risk of discouraging some people (I hope not), the concept of chesed also includes a sense of God’s holiness, righteousness, and justice. No human being can stand uncrushed under those attributes of God without the rest of the attributes of God that chesed describes.
And so, King David’s statement to “Deal with Your servant according to Your chesed” is a plea to God to be gentle, kind, and merciful in dealing with us (because we are all sinners, for sure). But it is also a plea to God to make us more like our Lord Jesus in our holiness, righteousness, and justice. And for that, we need Him to teach us His word, and to give us discernment and understanding with respect to His word.
Another aspect of King David’s plea in these verses that is worth noting is that he is speaking on behalf of Israel. He is not simply making this plea for himself, but for all of God’s people.
As the people of God, we ought to try to build up our society on the basis of the word of God. Of course, that would require all of God’s people to personally and earnestly embrace biblical values. I don’t think that means legislation, per se, except for the common morality that God would want to see all humanity live by.
Sooner or later, that world is going to come when Jesus returns. But God wants us to pursue it now. God wants me to pursue it now. That is one of the reasons He has given us His word.
Father, You have created all things, and all things exist according to Your sovereign grace. May I live according to Your sovereign chesed as well. And be glorified as You teach me Your ways. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
