Who is God? Hesed is central to God’s promise-keeping, His perfect identity, and His unfailing nature. God never gives up on His people. In all reality, there is not just a single English word that can truly define Hesed. 

When reading the Bible, we find all sorts of attempts at translating Hesed, such as:

• Mercy

• Benevolence

• Charity

• Kindness

• Compassion

• Covenantal faithfulness

• Grace

• Lovingkindness

• Steadfast love

• Rich in faithful love

• Abundant goodness

• Loyalty

• Enduring commitment

• Unyielding

• Abounding in loyal love

• Unfailing and unending love

• Promise Keeper

One could “bundle” all of those words and still barely describe one uniquely incredible Hebrew word: Hesed.

Exodus 34:6

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,”

These attributes of God describing Himself as He passed in front of Moses, in the most quoted scripture by scripture, includes the translation, “abounding in love” which is “hesed.”

Who is God? In His Word, God describes Himself…

Numbers 14:18 

The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.

Nehemiah 9:17 

But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.

Psalm 86:15 

But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

Psalm 145:8 

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.

Jonah 4:2 

[Jonah] prayed to the Lord, “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”

Psalm 103:8 

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

Joel 2:13 

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

Psalm 89:1 

I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.

Psalm 89:2 

I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.

Psalm 89:14 

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

Psalm 89:24 

My faithful love will be with him, and through my name his horn will be exalted.

Psalm 89:28 

I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail.

Psalm 89:33 

but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.

Psalm 89:49 

Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?

Who is God? Those passages from the written pages of God’s own Word are nothing more than a small beginning to Him revealing Himself to His Creation. If we only could only know how much we do not know – if we could only see and hear what He wants us to see and hear. To know Him for who He is; to see in Him why He has made us, and to hear from Him for what plans and purpose. If we would only care enough to seek Him in the ways He desires us to seek Him, He says… 

Deuteronomy 4:29-31

But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice. 31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

Any English biblical translation attempting to interpret the meaning to hesed must first bring attention and insight to God’s unconditional and non-negotiable loyalty and love. It is unbreakable and everlasting – lasting forever. He promises His “none like you” love and loyalty to His people to the very end, no matter the circumstances or the cost. It is without limit, and like God Himself, timeless (before and after the human constructs of time). From the revealed hesed, through to the fulfilled hesed…

Isaiah  54:10

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. ESV

Lamentations 3:20-24

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” ESV

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ESV

We find God’s covenantal hesed with King David. Despite David’s sin, God’s hesed was rock solid and unmovable. In the book of Ruth, even though her sons had died, Naomi asked God to continue to include and cover her daughters-in-law with His covenantal love. This term reflects the commitment and unlimited distance the love of God will go in making good on His promises.

Biblically, we can find people imparting God’s Hesed as well. God’s covenantal relationship with His people always show His:

Compassion and Mercy

Loyalty and Love

Everlasting Promises and Faithfulness   

Who is God? Because these characteristics are God’s covenantal nature (not just something He does or does not do), He is revealing to us in His nature the answers to the questions we are seeking…

WHO HE IS –  WHY HE MADE US  – FOR WHAT PURPOSES  

Here is what is most remarkable and unbelievable about the hased of God – even when we are unfaithful to Him, or when we are faithless (have less faith) in Him, His Hased remains true it is unmoved. The Hesed of the Creator God Almighty – the Loving Father God is abundantly, generously, and endlessly given.

Here is a practical way to approach and understand the Hased of God. Each day, set aside time to think, read, or write about the evidences and realities of the covenantal nature of God:

• God’s Promises

• God’s Attributes

• God’s Faithfulness and Mercy

• God’s Love

• God’s Provision

This daily practice will bring a conscious and meaningful revelation to you about Who God is and why He made you. The revelation you receive from this will bring to you the Peace/Shalom, Presence/Pa-neh, and Power/Ko-ah  of God.

My wife lives by something very similar to this – she calls it “The Grid of Truth.” It is how she processes the grind and the pressures of day to day living – it is how she lives fully in the Hased (covenantal relationship) with her heavenly Father. 

I would suggest making a personal list of the attributes (character and nature of God), promises (His Word), and provisions (where and when He has provided for you). Use this list throughout your week to sustain you, strengthen you, and empower you as a son or daughter of the most high God. Who has a sheet covered with words of God’s attributes? Fill up a page and use it at home, at work, during travel, temptation, or weakness, and most importantly, in worship and prayer. I promise it will make you laugh, make you cry, bring you joy, hope, strength to navigate your sorrow, eliminate your fear and discouragement, and lead you to forgive and be forgiven. 

Who is God? You see, when we focus on all the good that God is and not solely on what He does, every day we can see with clear lenses why we were made and for what purpose we are here – His covenantal Hesed.

Isaiah 40:28-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30  Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.