Michael Card sends us on a scavenger hunt through the Old Testament looking for gems around this word – HESED.  This Hebrew word is a word God uses in Scripture to describe His character.  With nearly 250 occurrences in the Old Testament and a variety of interpretations across translations, HESED is a word that defies simple definitions and has no single equivalent. Michael Card has taken on the monumental task of beginning to help us wrap our minds and hearts around what it means.

We encounter HESED first on Sinai with Moses, enveloped in the cloud of the presence of Jehovah, who reveals himself to Moses as “slow to anger and rich in hesed and truth, maintaining hesed to a thousand generations” (Exodus 24:6). The range of this word’s meaning in the Hebrew language, each translation—love, lovingkindness, mercy, grace, pity, devotion, beauty, and others—attempts to express the inexpressible character of Jehovah – thus the title.
 “In the end,” Michael Card explains, “hesed is as much a world as a word”—the world of God’s character, his heart for his people, and the story of his relationship with them. It’s an inexpressible world, yes—and it’s the world Michael Card invites us to enter through his book.  I recommend this devotional work and in-depth word study to your faith journey!

Pastor Mike

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery
by Eric Metaxas