Lovingkindness

Lovingkindness
by Pete Berardi

Psalm 63: 3
Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I love that better than life itself”? I have. I wonder sometimes what could be better than life itself. For if a person loves something than life itself, what he is saying is that he would rather die than lose or not experience that particular thing. The writer of Psalm 63:3 says that he loves the lovingkindness of God better than life itself. He proclaims that he would rather die than give up the Lord’s lovingkindness. Death is a pretty serious matter, what is this so called lovingkindness?

The best way to “define” lovingkindness, since it is not in Webster’s, is to examine its context. Lovingkindness appears twenty-six times in the Bible. Most of the occurrences are in the Book of the Psalms. There are a few in Jeremiah and one in Hosea. The best definition of lovingkindness comes from three verses: Jeremiah 16:15, Jeremiah 31:3 and Hosea 2:19.

Jeremiah 16:15 states: For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament or bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, [even] lovingkindness and mercies.

Here, God states quite plainly that his lovingkindness is his peace.

Jeremiah 31: 3 states: The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, [saying], Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

This verse compares lovingkindness with an “everlasting” love. This is the kind of love that only God can provide. This is the kind of love that one is willing to die for. Everlasting never ends, it lasts forever.

Finally,
Hosea 2:19 states: And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yeah, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

God is speaking to his people here as if we were his bride. God wants to spend the rest of eternity with us in lovingkindness. Betroth, as you know, refers to marriage. This lovingkindness again will last forever and is the kind of closeness that a husband and wife have with each other.

The Psalmist David, who is described as a man after God’s own heart (see Acts 13:22), is willing to die for the lovingkindness of God just as God himself was willing to die for our lovingkindness. God did in fact die for us by sending his one and only son Jesus to suffer the cross. By dying on the cross he guaranteed a life forever with him for whoever believes on him. This is the kind of love that I want. And this is the kind of love that I also consider to be better than life and willing to die for.