God's Steadfast Love and Faithfulness
#6 in our verse-by-verse study of Psalm 138.
I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word. - Psalm 138:2 (ESV)
Introduction
In our last study in this series, we began looking at “line 2” of Psalm 138:2 which says, “and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness” and we focused on the phrase “give thanks to your name.”
The words “your name” appears many times in the Old Testament and generally appear to be a reference to God’s personal name, YHWH” (i.e. Yahweh or LORD), and as we noted in that study, “When the phrase “your name” is used it is calling us to bring to mind all that we know about God. That applied to God’s people in the Old Testament and it applies to us today.”
“Give thanks to your name”
With that in mind, let’s look again at line 2 and continue our study of this verse:
“and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness”
The psalmist, King David, is giving thanks to God, but instead of directly using the name of God, such as Yahweh, he is directing his thanksgiving to “your name.” It’s as if he is saying, “all that I know about you, God, is generating gratitude, and that gratitude is being given back to You.”
It’s appropriate for us, as we consider this phrase “your name,” to ask “What do we know about God?” and to then redirect that knowledge into praise and prayer as well. Of course, we can know there is a God by His handiwork, His creation, as we read in Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” And Romans 1:19-20 tells us that God’s “invisible attributes” are “clearly perceived” by all mankind.
So we don’t have to read the Bible to know that there is a God. But we do need to read the Bible to know more about God, to really find out who He is and to find our what He says. For it is in the Bible where we find the names and titles of God. It is in the Bible where we read what God has done, is doing and will do.
When, through His word and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we understand these things, our natural response is to praise Him and to give thanks to Him. That is what David is doing here in Psalm 138 and that is what we should be doing on a regular basis.
As David bows down toward God’s dwelling place among mankind at the time, the temple, he is aligning himself with God and as he prays to God thanking Him, two specific attributes of God receive specific attention: God’s steadfast love and God’s faithfulness.
God’s Steadfast Love and God’s Faithfulness
God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.
Over and over in the Bible we read of these - “steadfast love and faithfulness” - together:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” - Exodus 34:6 (ESV)
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. - Psalm 25:10 (ESV)
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. - Psalm 86:15 (ESV)
And these are but a few of the many examples.
Understanding these words = “mind blowing”
These words have been translated into various versions of the Bible in several ways. Some examples of these are below:
American Standard Version = “thy lovingkindness and for thy truth”
1599 Geneva Bible = “thy lovingkindness and for thy truth”
King James Version = “thy lovingkindness and for thy truth”
New American Standard Bible = “for your mercy and Your truth”
New International Version = “for your unfailing love and your faithfulness”
Revised Standard Version = “for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness”
Unfortunately, because perhaps we either read these words over and over and they become stale to us, or because we maybe don’t fully understand the meaning of these words used together, we can really miss some incredibly deep and wonderful Bible truth here.
To help understand these words, let’s look at one Hebrew word associated with this verse: “hesed.”
This will be easy. I promise. And it will be worth it.
We are looking at the passage, “for your steadfast love and your faithfulness” from the English Standard Version.
The ESV Study Bible notes that the transliterated Hebrew word “steadfast love your” is ḥas•də•ḵā. The meaning of this word (also known as the lemma) is ḥe•seḏ.
To cut to the chase, “hesed” is a fascinating word and its meaning is mind blowing. Here’s a passage from gotquestions.org that helps explain:
Many biblical words such as mercy, compassion, love, grace, and faithfulness relate to the Hebrew word hesed (חֶסֶד), but none of these completely summarize the concept. Hesed is not merely an emotion or feeling but involves action on behalf of someone who is in need. Hesed describes a sense of love and loyalty that inspires merciful and compassionate behavior toward another person.
Hesed, found some 250 times in the Old Testament, expresses an essential part of God’s character. When God appeared to Moses to give the Law a second time, He described Himself as “abounding in” or “filled with” hesed, which is translated “love and faithfulness,” “unfailing love,” “faithful love,” “steadfast love,” and “loyal love,” depending on the Bible version (Exodus 34:6–7). The core idea of this term communicates loyalty or faithfulness within a relationship. Thus, hesed is closely related to God’s covenant with His people, Israel. As it relates to the concept of love, hesed expresses God’s faithfulness to His people.
Understanding these words = the context
In Exodus 34:6-7, as referenced in the quote above, God tells Moses, in part, that He is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” This is a perfect place to stop and ponder God’s “steadfast love and faithfulness” because this is the time and place when God was giving Moses the Ten Commandments for a second time. There was a “second” time because the first time Moses came down Mount Sinai with the tablets of stone he found the people worshiping a golden calf made from their hands and he smashed the tablets! (Exodus 32)
This would have been the perfect time, in my opinion, for God to look at the people and say, “Depart from me. I never knew you.” Instead, it is the perfect time to display His steadfast love.
As the amazing quote above reminds us, “hesed is not merely an emotion or feeling but involves action on behalf of someone who is in need…describes a sense of love and loyalty that inspires merciful and compassionate behavior.” This is God’s amazing steadfast love and faithfulness. This is part of His character. This is innately who He is. He applies steadfast love and faithfulness perfectly.
The Israelites did not cause this attribute to develop in God. It is part of His character. It is a part of who He is. But dealing with this rebellious people allowed this part of Him to be on display. And oh how many times it was!
The golden calf, grumbling and complaining in the desert, not trusting Him enough to enter the Promised Land, breaking His rules, and whoring after other false gods. And more. This is how the chosen people treated God Almighty, yet through all of this His steadfast love and faithfulness was on display.
Understanding faithfulness
Up until now not much has been said about faithfulness. God’s steadfast love has gathered most of the attention and “faithfulness” has been sort of a tag along at the end of the phrase.
But it is not a tag along.
God is faithful and this means that God does what He says He is going to do. When He says something, He means it. What He says He does. And this is the perfect complement to His steadfast love.
As we discussed above, this steadfast love - or hesed - is intense. It is love and loyalty in action. Of course there is no doubt that God is not a liar. When He declares His steadfast love He is indeed accurate. This is what He will do. But God’s declaration of faithfulness underscores this statement. He doesn’t need to say this, but when He does it is an incredible reminder that those receiving God’s steadfast love won’t be found wanting.
A warning
But what can happen when we read over and over about God’s steadfast love and faithfulness or when we experience these things? Unfortunately, we can begin to take God for granted. We can begin to think that God has made a peace treaty with our sin and that He is turning a blind eye to our transgressions.
But this could not be further from the truth.
For a reminder, let’s look back at Exodus 34:6-7:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” - Exodus 34:6-7 (ESV)
In this passage that extols God “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,” we also hear God declare that He “will by no means clear the guilty.” Even when God is demonstrating hesed He is still holy and righteous. His steadfast love and faithfulness is a wonderful part of His character, but it is not a license to sin.
Application
King David is the human author of Psalm 138 and in these first two verses we’ve studied, we have seen an intimate portrait of someone worshiping God:
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word. - Psalm 138:1-2 (ESV)
David’s heart is filled with love and gratitude toward God and in this Psalm we read how it is poured out to the Lord. It doesn’t matter where he is or who is watching, David is praising the Lord. He is humbled before God and aligned with God’s earthly dwelling place and he is directing all of his thanksgiving toward all that he knows about God.
David is specifically giving thanks to God for His steadfast love and His faithfulness. God is showing supernatural love and affection toward His people and this is backed up by His faithfulness - He does what He says He will do.
And God still shows this same steadfast love and faithfulness to His children today.
We see it when read John 10:28:
“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” - John 10:28 (ESV)
We see it when we read Philippians 1:6:
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” - Philippians 1:6 (ESV)
And we see it when we read Romans 5:8:
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8 (ESV)
In fact, we see these characteristics of God all over the Bible - both in the Old Testament and New.
As followers of Christ, our challenge today is two-fold:
First, we must not forget these things! No matter what happens, our perspective should be the same as David’s. No matter what, we should be thinking, “I will praise you, God, because of your steadfast love and faithfulness.”
Second, we must not use God’s steadfast love and faithfulness as an excuse to sin. Yes, God is faithful and loves us with an eternally committed love. But He is also a holy and righteous God. There is a price for sin. It causes pain and destruction in our lives, and for believers, it causes suffering for our Savior on the cross.
Thank you for reading! If you like to send a comment, just reply to this email. The response will go straight to the author (and won’t be posted online).