Alan's Devotionals

 

 

All of us are familiar with precious stones or precious metals. The Strong’s Dictionary for the Hebrew word precious means costly, rare, and is equated with weighty. Back when gold was the currency standard, and people traded with gold, one way to tell you were working with real stuff was the weight. Real gold is heavy. Precious stones have a certain look and shine. And in our verse for today, David is saying that God’s lovingkindness is precious, costly, and of high value.   

   

The Hebrew word for lovingkindness is hesed, “A masculine noun indicating kindness, lovingkindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, love, acts of kindness.” This word is used over 230 times in the NASB version of the Old Testament and describes the character of God. When a word is used often, it is for a reason. The apostle John in the New Testament said God is love. David appeared to have the same revelation.    

   

The love of God is costly and rare. Not rare for God but rare in the earth. And in case you think that God’s love is not costly, then consider the price that God paid for us. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. God’s love cost Him, so He must consider us worth the price. David had this understanding of God that was way ahead of his time. During David’s day and for hundreds of years later, the view of God was that He was harsh, not kind. That He was looking to inflict punishment. The big challenge with that perception of God is that it was much harder to trust a God that was against you.   

   

David believed that God was loving and kind. He believed that God would answer him and help him. David believed in God’s lovingkindness so much that he prayed for the baby he had with Bathsheba even though the Lord had told him the child would die. For an entire week, David fasted and prayed because he knew God was loving and kind, and maybe the child would live. The child died, but the next child David and Bathsheba had was Solomon, who succeeded David as king.   

   

Because David knew God was loving and kind and merciful, he trusted God. It’s far easier to trust someone who is loving and kind. Far easier to trust someone you know is for you. So David declares that because of God’s lovingkindness, people put their trust in God. People can look to God for a refuge, a safe place, because He is kind, and good, and loving.