I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of unfailing love. Though the phrase is not new to my ears, it’s certainly not something I had ever spent a good deal of time thinking about.

Until lately.

(Another post with a Jimmy Needham reference in 3…2…)
There’s a song on Not Without Love, “Unfailing Love,” that’s a beautiful, lovely story about how his love for his bride is unfailing and will not be moved. The lyrics are full of Scripture and are a celebration of God as a provider and a promise-keeper. I came across this song just before my trip to Arkadelphia last month and it now serves as a part of the soundtrack to that emotionally intense weekend. When I hear it now, I’m reminded of that specific weekend and it’s both happy and a little sad. Bittersweet.

After my trip, the concept of unfailing love was on my mind and in an email exchange with a friend, I shared how excited I was that God hasn’t yet given up on me, even though I’ve given him plenty of reason to think I’m no good and can’t be of any use (a concept with which I still struggle). He affirmed God’s love for me and also shared with me Isaiah 54:10. As I read the verse, my heart began to sing and my spirit was comforted.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor will my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord who has compassion on you.

These are words I so desperately needed to hear! I committed the verse to memory so that I could recall it when I needed to share it…or when I needed to re-hear it myself.

I’m reading my way through the Psalms and learning how to read and meditate on God’s word for the first time in my life. I’ve been a believer for years, but I’ve never been desperate for God in the way that I am right now. So as I make my way through the Psalms, I’m learning to look things up and make notes for later study and wouldn’t you know? I see the concept of unfailing love all over the place. I’ve looked up cross-references to see how this phrase is used other places and I learned last night that the Hebrew word for “unfailing love” as it’s used here is hesed. Hesed is defined as “covenant loyalty” or “covenant love.” It is a term that implies a mutual relationship in which love is given and there is a reciprocal response expected. I think this is also appropriate to apply to the concept of marital love, and that’s why its use in Jimmy Needham’s song is both appropriate and beautiful. English, or perhaps it’s our American culture, has boogered up our use and understanding of the word “love” so much that we now associate the term solely with feelings and less so an act of the will. God’s love for me requires a response from me.

I’m not so sure what I wanted to say anymore, and I’m certainly not a Hebrew scholar. I am learning that while yes, God’s love is lavish and complete and unmerited and unwavering, I cannot bask in it without doing something. This actually ties into a focus that’s happening at my church. If we love God, if I love him, then shouldn’t I be doing something about it? Shouldn’t my life be different as a result? My speech should be full of him, my thoughts should be full of him, I should want to spend time with him and with his people.

God will be faithful to the covenant he’s made with me. How can I honor that covenant in my life? Satan would love nothing more than for me to be so convinced of my defeat that I don’t make any effort to respond to God’s love. Whatever God’s plan for my life might be, defeat isn’t part of it. Not like this. I mean, after all that he’s brought me through in the last four years or so, surely this is not the hill on which I’m supposed to die, right?

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18

Right.

More on hesed.