Dear Amy,
Why love mercy?
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
― Micah 6:8
Yes, the ESV does have slightly unfamiliar wording here. All my Christian life I have known it as act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly. But the unfamiliar prompted me to look further into what this word mercy actually means.
And why love and not show? Why not “show mercy”? Wouldn’t that go better with those other doing words, act justly and walk humbly? Isn’t this purely about our behaviour? Not remotely! It is so much richer and deeper than that.
The word translated mercy or kindness is chêsêd. Over the last couple of weeks or so I have been on a journey into chêsêd, mainly thanks to Jim McClure. It has been rich and deep. As we come to understand chêsêd we come to understand something of the heart of God.
The Hebrew chêsêd has been translated by a variety of words including mercy, kindness, goodness, favour, pity and loving-kindness. Sometimes it has been translated as faithfulness, grace, leal-love, steadfast love and troth. The fact that so many words have been employed to translate chêsêd reveals that it is extremely difficult to find an equivalent English word and every attempt is ultimately inadequate.
Chêsêd is love that is covenantal and it is about relationship. God’s chêsêd is wonderful, ever present, always surrounding, universal, superlative, quick to pardon, immense in its essence, immense in its duration, immense in its quantity, and, remarkably, can be understood.
― Adapted from Jim McClure, Words of Life #5, Loyal Love — Chêsêd
So where else does this word appear? Everywhere!
For I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
― Exodus 20:5b-6
All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
― Psalm 25:10
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
― Lamentations 3:21-23
By loving chêsêd we are loving an essential and fundamental attribute of God’s character, and ultimately we are loving God himself. By immersing ourselves in this mercy and kindness, joyously and with grateful hearts, we fall more deeply in love with our Lord and Saviour, and that changes us. How we need this mercy! The overwhelmingly good news is that it flows freely⸺as and because Jesus’ blood flowed freely on the cross.
And as we receive this it becomes a part of us and starts to define our own character, such that we become people of mercy, chêsêd people. Jesus talked about this.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
― Matthew 5:7
Finally, let’s observe what it looks like to love mercy, to live for it and because of it. Can you hear the longing here, such deep longing, for the Lord’s chêsêd?
Let your chêsêd come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
― Psalm 119:41-42
What happens when we live with such deep longing for the Lord’s chêsêd? The answer is, we put a smile on the face of our Heavenly Father.
The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his chêsêd.
― Psalm 147:11
Love mercy, Amy, and put a smile on the face of your Heavenly Father! 🙏❤️