Title Hold on to 'Hesed'
Contents
Hymn: 399 “On the word of the Lord”
Meditation: Are we keeping the promises God has given us in His Word? What is God's promise to us today?
Confession of Faith: Apostles' Creed
Text: “Blessed be the Lord to him, for he does not cease to be gracious to the living and the dead” (Ruth 2:17-23).
Word: The philosopher Heidegger sees the cause of human fear, sorrow, and anxiety as the cause of ‘losing home’ and separation from God. Naomi left her father's arms, hoping for something better in her hometown of Bethlehem. But she loses everything in Moab. After hearing the rumors, I remembered my hometown and returned to my hometown.
Ruth continues to shout “grace”. As if in response, Naomi also proclaims ‘grace’. ‘Grace’ is one word in the Korean Bible, but in the Hebrew Bible, Ruth uses the word ‘Hen’ and Naomi uses the word ‘Hesed’. Let's look at the double header. In the book of Ruth, chesed is translated as good deeds, grace, and kindness. However, except in the book of Ruth, chesed is always used only in the meaning of ‘God’s covenant’. When the people of Israel thought of ‘Hesed’, they thought of ‘God’s covenant’. Naomi also writes ‘hesed’, remembering God’s covenant.
The ‘covenant’ first appears in the words of the ‘rainbow covenant’ in Genesis 9. Here the word covenant is used seven times. Seven covenants, seven colors of rainbow! ‘Rainbow’ (keshet) is ‘bow’. If you attach an arrow to the rainbow-shaped bow and pull it, the arrow will fly towards the sky and be stuck. It means that God will be judged instead. The covenant of redemption flowed smoothly from the Garden of Eden to Mount Calvary. Naomi captured Chesed and returned to Bethlehem. Ruth is sent out into the field. Surprisingly, ‘Hesed’ appeared to her daughter-in-law Ruth. Chesed appeared in abundance through Boaz in the field. She proclaimed Chesed with her lips.
If you, like Naomi, are living sleepless days in a desperate situation, you must hold on to the word of the ‘Hesed’ covenant. If we just hold on to it, God will grant us the wonderful blessings He has bestowed upon Naomi and Ruth. We will experience the amazing grace of God in the field of our lives.
Prayer: Promise God, lead us to live a life of discovering the covenant fulfilling God in our lives. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lord's Prayer