“Knowing God’s intentions is what we need to hang on to when there’s times of pain and suffering.” – Dr. Jim Wilder on Susie Larson Live

Recently, I shared a message on the posture of ‘clinging to God’ at the church where I serve. The topic that we are on is “Recalculating: when plans change.” As I thought about this in my own life I have been humbled. From the high desert of the Navajo Nation, to sleeping on couches throughout my late teens and early twenties, I am thankful for all those who opened their hearts and homes to me as a young monk-ish nomad, itinerantely walking everywhere. I am in awe of the journey of intimate connection to God as well as to others. It hasn’t been perfect, in fact, it has been rough and ugly most of the time. However, it is through this journey that the Lord has revealed Himself to me through the characters in my journey.

The Hebrew word “Chesed/Hesed” is one that I’ve been spending a lot of time with lately. Michael Card defined hesed as: “Hesed is when the person from whom I have a right to expect nothing gives me everything.” Dr. Jim Wilder suggests, and I agree, that hesed is attachment love, and when we see it in the character of God, it is awesome. In the first self-revelation of God to Moses in the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 34:6-7), He uses the word “hesed” twice. It is a pursuing grace based on the all-sufficiency of the Love of God (not on us) – it is a relational reconciliation-prone favor.

This One who has a love that clings to us, invites us to cling to Him. Whether things are going well…or if it’s 2020.