God Is Loyal
This last Wednesday night, I had the opportunity to teach our middle and high school students at Wednesday Night Live. They are in a series titled “Who Is God?” As you can guess, they are exploring the essential parts or characteristics of God’s nature. I shared with them that God is loyal. This is such an important truth for students to hear. Often over the middle and high school years, our friend groups shift, sometimes naturally because of classes and interests, and then sometimes painfully because of conflict. However, if we are honest, the truth that God is loyal is an important truth for all of us at every stage of our lives. Yes, the teenage years are turbulent, but adult life brings the challenges of finances, health issues, and those relationships don’t get any easier. But, God is loyal to his children.
The Hebrew word that describes God’s loyalty is Hesed. It is used 248 times in the OT. Most often, it is translated as loving-kindness or steadfast-love. And that is what it literally means. Yet, 206 of the 248 times that it is used, it carries the connotation of loyal love. When God loves, it is true, steadfast, resilient, never-changing, and always able to be counted on. When God is present, his presence is dutiful, constant, steady, and unwavering. Again, God is loyal. The theologian and pastor Rich Villodas has this to say about God’s loyalty,
“It’s quite comforting to me that God doesn’t take days off. Although we have a limit, God does not. He is with us. Any notion of mission in this world must confess that God moves first. Long before we act, God has already acted. Long before we speak, God has already spoken. Long before we arrive, God has been present. The story of the Bible is the story of God’s presence with his people. … Even when they sin and are banished from the Garden of Eden, he still reaches out, looking to restore communion and relationship.”[1]
As we have seen in the book of Acts, God makes the first move towards us. Why? Because he desires to be known by us. And as we grow in our relationship with God, we will experience his nature of loyalty more and more. God doesn’t take days off. God is never too tired to be present. His love is constant, unwavering, never-changing, and true.
Oh, child of God, he is loyal to you; (Ps. 6:4) and, whatever this season has brought or will bring, hold to that truth. Finally, in the greatest gift of mercy we could ever imagine, God’s loyalty is available to all people who confess Jesus as savior. (Acts 10:15)
When God loves, it is true, steadfast, resilient, never-changing, and always able to be counted on.
[1] Rich Villodas, The Deeply Formed Life, (2020) p.181-182.