sermon-illustrations
Curated Sermon Illustrations from Genesis 39
Explore powerful illustrations to bring Genesis 39 to life. Discover stories, analogies, humor and more as you illustrate the timeless truths from scripture.
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Kindness and the Character of God
In the Old Testament, God is often praised for his kindness. There is a beautiful word in Hebrew—hesed—which is so rich in meaning that it gets translated in many ways. Very often it is translated as “love,” with an emphasis on the faithfulness that is an essential part of genuine love.
So sometimes hesed is translated “faithful love.” Sometimes it can mean “loyalty,” when one person acts out of a strong sense of commitment to another person because of the relationship between them.
When God acts with hesed it can mean that he exercises “mercy” toward people who are in a vulnerable or needy situation, so it is quite close to “compassion,” which is another word that occurs very often in the Old Testament.
One of the older ways of translating hesed (e.g. in the KJV) is “loving-kindness”—a beautiful old English double word that I wish we still used. And often, hesed is simply translated as “kindness,” since it does have that active sense of doing something for another person, something that shows thoughtful love in action.
When God acts in “kindness” (in hesed), it means God is being faithful to his covenant promises, paying careful attention to our needs, acting in generous and merciful love, generously providing everything for our blessing and benefit. Didn’t I say it is a beautiful word?
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