Psalm 23 Musings - THE PROMISE
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
When The Word of God is spoken words to our hearts, everything shifts. It’s always amazing when He does this. This is why it’s important to read The Word of God with heart and ear to the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who reveals the Living Word in a way that transforms us.
This happened for me, on one of the hardest days of my life, singing a song with the words from Psalm 23: “Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Words I had heard, read, sung, and quoted thousands of times - became mine. The Holy Spirit whispered: “this is for you”.
“Goodness and mercy in this life, and then with me in Heaven forever.”
I still carry this promise, and just saying these words reminds me of my (ongoing) journey with the Shepherd, down paths of His choosing…through green pastures, dark valleys, and up high mountains. He has etched these words deep into my soul, and I pray I never forget them.
But what started as a promise for hope began to unfold into a realization of life changing reality. Shortly after He gave me this verse, I began reading a book that talked a lot about the Hebrew word “HESED” (חֶסֶד). It got me thinking. Not long after, I discovered that it is this very word that David used when he penned “goodness and mercy…”. This set me on a path of discovery that has opened up a depth of connection with God that has changed everything for me.
If you are a Bible reader, you have likely come across this little word many times - and maybe not known it. In the Psalms it’s often recorded as “mercy” , “lovingkindess” or “unfailing love”. Once you start looking, you can’t unsee it - HESED is all over the Old Testament, mentioned over 250 times. Here are a few examples:
Numbers 14:18–19: "The LORD is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love (hesed), forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion"
Isaiah 54:8: "In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting lovingkindness (hesed) I will have compassion on you"
Isaiah 54:10: "For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness (hesed) will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken"
Lamentations 3:22: "The LORD'S lovingkindnesses (hesed) indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail"
But the Hebrew word has far more depth than what we can say in one English word. The Hebrew reader would have known this. It carries the idea of "kindness," "faithfulness," "mercy," "goodness," "loyalty," or "steadfast love.” Most often used to describe God’s feelings or demeanor towards His people. In short, it describes covenant love. Covenant being a way to express one’s character, a way to show “this is who I am, this is what I am like”. David knew this, and he knew HESED describes God. Full devotion.
Not our full devotion to God, but God’s full devotion to us.
I like to agree with a few brain scientists and Bible scholars who associate HESED with what we call “attachment love”. It’s the closest human concept that we can relate to what we see here in God’s nature towards us. Attachment is one of the most powerful and influential forces in the human brain and connects to our deepest needs and desires as humans. We know that human’s greatest need is safety, and this happens relationally within what we call secure attachment. For secure attachment to form for a child, there must be a safe, constant, devoted, available and responsive caretaker. Our brains learn secure attachment first with caregivers, then with peers. Though attachment is a natural force for humans - the secure part is often disrupted and the cause of much pain, due to our dysfunctional ways. Thus why attachment science has become such a huge conversation.
But what we learn from attachment science, should make us astounded at what God has revealed to us about Himself. He has demonstrated that He is a God who operates with HESED, He is offering Himself to us as the safe, constant, devoted, available and responsive caretaker. I believe David got this. Being securely attached to God, he could celebrate the joy of knowing He was completely welcome in the presence of His Father (Psalm 16:11) .
For us today, HESED - covenant love - culminates in the person of Jesus Christ. He manifested sacrificial agape love in going to the cross for us, conquering death, rising again and establishing a new covenant that would essentially ATTACH us to God FOREVER in SAFETY.
Secure attachment with God is a spiritual reality In Christ.
This spiritual reality becomes a relational experience as our brains learn to recognize God as our Heavenly Parent. Our hearts and brains have to learn that we have a true safe haven and secure home base. For those who haven’t experienced or formed this in family, it can be hard to embrace - but life altering to discover that your true deepest need for secure attachment is available with our Good Heavenly Father.
Learning about HESED and attachment took me on such a long detour, I almost forgot about goodness. But when I started uncovering the other part of the promise, it was another incredible discovery. The word David uses for “good” is the Hebrew word “TOV” (טוֹב). Once again, if you are a Bible reader, you might guess that we first catch this word in Genesis when God looks at all He has made and says “it is GOOD”. In English TOV has been translated as: beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful, fair, favour, fine, glad, pleasant, prosperity, welfare. But the essence of the Hebrew meaning is far richer, and perhaps best captured with our word “functional”. Functional is not a grand word in English, but it is descriptive. Consider what functional actually means - it might describe something to be in working order, operating according to design, fulfilling its purpose… “it works the way it’s supposed to”.
When God calls His creation “good”, we can see it in action - all He made was fulfilling the purpose for which it was created.
If I personalize the promise of Psalm 23:6, I have to assume that God is more committed than anyone to see us live fully into our design and experience all that we were made for. He wants this kind of goodness for us. Jesus embodied TOV, when He came as The GOOD Shepherd. Stepping into our world, He Himself lived fully into the purpose which He came for - to “lay down His life for the sheep” (John 10:10-11). He offers new Life to whoever will receive it - an invitation to step into the true experience of living a life that you were designed for. To be filled with Life and Love.
Our Good Father is devoted to us thriving - with secure attachment in place, we are empowered to step into all that we are meant to be. In Christ, He has baptized us into His goodness (TOV) and love (HESED). To experience this, we are invited to embrace His design, His way. This means a lot of things, but for today let’s just sit with what we see in the heart of God, His desire for us to to experience HESED (healthy attachment) and TOV (thriving & purpose).
Goodness & Mercy. Tov & Hesed. All the days of your life.
In this life, today, I believe God wants us to experience this fullness, possible through Jesus Christ - no barrier, no limitations, just something to be received. In Him we are attached to God and filled with His Life to live the life we were made for.
