God’s Résumé
But I in Your kindness do trust, my heart exults in Your rescue. Psalm 13:6 (Hebrew text translation by Robert Alter)
Kindness – What does your résumé say about you? My guess is that it contains a lot of the things that you have done. It’s a summary of your accomplishments, but it doesn’t say much at all about your character. In fact, some men with stellar résumés are morally corrupt and continually disobedient. The reason we believe a résumé shows the real quality of a person is that, in our Greek-based world, we think the value of a person is determined by their production, not by how well they carry the image of God. God’s résumé is very different. It doesn’t list any of His accomplishments (and there are quite a few). Instead, it lists only His character attributes. This word, hesed, is right at the top of the list.
Hesed is one of those Hebrew words that has a dozen meanings. Fortunately, all the meanings are related. Hesed is translated kindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, love and loving-kindness. The classic example of the use of hesed is found in Psalm 136 where it appears twenty-six times. The important thing about hesed is that it is the basis of all of God’s actions. So, rather than list all the things that God has done, this word simply provides the reason for all those decisions. Anything that flows from hesed expresses the nature of God.
If you read the entire thirteenth psalm, you will discover that it begins with a deeply distressed lament about feelings of abandonment. The Psalmist cries out, “How long will you forget me?” As he works his way through these horrifying emotions, a change begins to emerge. Just telling God how terrible life seems to be allows the Psalmist to get a glimpse of God’s true character, and as soon as God’s character comes into view, God’s résumé arrives. Suddenly the Psalmist understands that every action taken by God rests firmly on His hesed. What that means completely overshadows any distressed emotion because it proclaims that unwavering faithfulness of God no matter how we might feel at the moment. That’s why the Psalmist can say that he trusts in God’s hesed. When life is punctuated by perils, you and I can count on God’s résumé.
Of course, all this discussion of life summaries (résumés) raises an interesting question for each of us. What about our résumés? Are they Greek or Hebrew? Do they focus attention on our accomplishments or on our character? Are we what we do or are we who we copy? You might want to reconsider what that paper says about you. And if you are in the position to hire someone, you might want to rethink what you really need to know about the candidate. If character attributes are the substance of God’s résumé, shouldn’t they be the substance of ours as well?
Topical Index: Human Being
