Checed: Strength to face the new year

As we face a new year, we may ask ourselves where we will find the strength to face its challenges. The answer is that we will rely on our creator, God. When the King of Judah was fearing an invasion from his enemies the prophet Isaiah told him that, “If you do not stand in your faith, you will not stand at all” (Isaiah 7:9). We can stand in our faith because we know the character of the God in which we place our faith.

When God spoke with Moses on Mt. Sinai He defined His character. “…“Yehovah, Yehovah God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished…” (Exodus 34:6-7). The Hebrew word translated as “loving kindness” is checed.

Checed appears 253 times in the Bible. It is translated as “mercy” in 59% of the verses. Other times it is translated as “loving kindness,” “goodness” or “steadfast love.” Checed in the Tanakh (Old Testament) is what is meant by “love” in the New Testament. Checed describes the amazing enduring love God has for us despite our rebellion and sin. The ultimate demonstration of checed came at the cross. The apostle Paul reminds us that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Peter proclaimed, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God,” (1 Peter 3:18).

It is important that we be reconciled to God through Jesus because in order to avail ourselves of God’s checed, we must be in relationship with Him. He showed His checed towards us by dying for us, but we must access that salvation through professing our faith in Him. He died for all but not all will benefit from His death – only those that believe in and trust in His death and resurrection on their behalf.

Forty-two times we are told that God’s checed “endures forever.” Psalm 103:17 tells us “But the checed of God is from everlasting to everlasting.” We can count on Him for our salvation and we can count on Him to face the problems and challenges we face throughout our lifetimes. Jesus told His followers in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”