What is the basis on which you approach God?<\/p>\n
How did David approach Him?<\/p>\n
Consider Psalm 86:2: \u201cPreserve my life, for I am godly.\u201d It almost sounds as if David is saying, \u201cLook at how good I\u2019ve been! I\u2019ve become like You, Lord! I\u2019ve fulfilled my part of the bargain, now You fulfill Yours \u2013 keep me alive! Save me from my enemies!\u201d<\/p>\n
But that seems to fly in the face of what Scripture says elsewhere. For example, many of us have memorized Ephesians 2:8-9:<\/p>\n
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.<\/p>\n
These and the surrounding verses clearly show that we are saved by God\u2019s grace, not by our works. We are saved through faith in the crucified and risen Christ, not by our efforts. No matter how many good works we may do, no matter how faithful we may be, our status before God depends upon \u201cthe great love with which [God] loved us\u201d (v. 5), not upon the \u201cgood works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them\u201d (v. 10). Those works, indeed, are the result <\/i>of God\u2019s love, not the prerequisite <\/i>for God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n
How then do we understand a verse like Psalm 86:2?<\/p>\n
To understand this verse rightly, we must understand the word translated \u201cgodly.\u201d What does this Hebrew word, hasidim,<\/i> mean? It is often translated \u201csaints.\u201d But the word shares a root with the important Hebrew word hesed \u2013 <\/i>translated \u201clovingkindness,\u201d \u201csteadfast love,\u201d \u201ccovenant love,\u201d or \u201cunfailing love.. The English translations don\u2019t look very similar. But any Hebrew reader would note the close relation between hasidim <\/i>and hesed<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The word hesed,<\/i> appearing more than 250 times in the Old Testament, <\/i>is commonly used of God\u2019s love for His people. For example, when God proclaims His Name before Moses at Mt Sinai, He says, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in hesed<\/i> and faithfulness, keeping hesed<\/i> for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin\u201d (Exodus 34:6b-7a). David concludes Psalm 23 by saying, \u201cSurely goodness and hesed<\/i> will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word hasidim<\/i>, on the other hand, is much less frequent, appearing in its plural and singular forms only 32 times. The link with hesed <\/i>helps us to see that the hasidim <\/i>are the people to whom God has shown hesed <\/i>(see Psalm 18:25 and 2 Samuel 22:26). As one scholar writes, this word \u201cindicates those who were recipients of God\u2019s grace and who as a result show the impact of grace in their lives.\u201d That is, \u201cwe love because He first loved us\u201d (1 John 4:19). Thus, the word can be used to refer to God\u2019s people (Psalms 85:8) or God\u2019s servants (Psalm 79:2), since anyone who receives God\u2019s hesed <\/i>belongs to Him. But the word can also be used to refer to \u201cthe faithful ones\u201d (Psalm 12:1), since those loved by God are changed by Him. They become faithful to Him. Those God loves, He transforms into His likeness.<\/p>\n
So hasidim <\/i>does not mean \u201cgodly\u201d in the sense of someone who has become like God through his own efforts. Instead, hasidim <\/i>refers to those to whom God has shown hesed,<\/i> and thus are made to be godly, made to be saints, by His grace.<\/p>\n
This understanding of hasidim <\/i>gives much opportunity for fruitful reflection on several of the verses in which the word appears. Consider:<\/p>\n The translation \u201cgodly\u201d is particularly problematical in this last quotation. David says the hasidim <\/i>are to offer prayers of confession when they sin. Given our usual understanding of \u201cgodly\u201d, this makes little sense. Furthermore, near the end of the psalm he writes, \u201cMany are the sorrows of the wicked, but hesed<\/i> surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.\u201d David draws a contrast not between those who are sinners and those who are godly; rather the contrast is between sinners who confess, and the wicked who do not. Thus, \u201cthe wicked\u201d are those who have never been transformed by God\u2019s hesed<\/i>, and so are not His people. Those who sin and confess are the hasidim<\/i>, God\u2019s people, those whom He loves. <\/i>This is the real meaning of \u201cgodly\u201d in this verse.<\/p>\n Finally, let\u2019s return to Psalm 86:2: \u201cPreserve my life, for I am one of the hasidim\u201d. <\/i>David says, \u201cPreserve my life, Lord, not because of my righteous acts, not because of what I have done or accomplished, not because of my sacrifices or religious acts. But preserve my life because You love me! Preserve my life because You have made me Yours, You have made me one of Your people! Preserve my life because You are transforming me into Your likeness!\u201d<\/p>\n This is a precious truth, which will help us fight the fight of faith day by day. God\u2019s people, the hasidim, <\/i>are those to whom He shows hesed. <\/i>Thus, the main question for us is not, \u201cHow am I performing?\u201d The question is, \u201cAm I one of God\u2019s people, God\u2019s child, loved by Him and transformed by His love into His likeness?\u201d The Lord God will indeed preserve His people. He will keep them in His love. He will complete the good work He has begun in them. Nothing can separate God\u2019s people from the love He has for them in Christ Jesus. Amen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is the basis on which you approach God? How did David approach Him? Consider Psalm 86:2: \u201cPreserve my life, for I am godly.\u201d It almost sounds as if David…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15],"tags":[106,627,635,649,699,702,726,1253,1719],"class_list":["post-1528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-devotions","tag-adoption","tag-gods-child","tag-gods-love","tag-godly","tag-hasidim","tag-he-first-loved-us","tag-hesed","tag-psalm-86","tag-works-righteousness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n