The King’s Daughter

When I think of the Kings daughter, I think of a princess. And of course I think of all the Disney movies, like The Little Mermaid. King Triton loved his daughter. He seemed gentle and kind, but went above and beyond to help her in her time of trouble, even being willing to sacrifice Himself. That is love. And that is what this post is about, the love of a King.

The Love A King Has For His Daughter…

If you have followed me awhile, you will know of my fear of flying. It isn’t just a little fear. It is a “I had my first full-blown panic attack 7 years ago when the plane door closed, we began taxiing and I flat out panicked” type of fear. I manage it now with a happy pill, and usually I am just fine.

But that wasn’t the case on my flight home from vacation yesterday. A perfect storm of rushing through security to make our flight, and the worst plane I have ever been on my life, I couldn’t stop myself from bursting into tears of fear, and texting my friend “I am about to panic” the second I sat in my seat. I told my husband I wasn’t okay, and that if the plane doors shut, I would have a full-blown panic attack.

Thankfully at that point, I was sane enough to decide to get off the plane, and book a flight home the next day. And I am writing to you calmly from a beautiful plane, on a beautiful day.

But there is a part of me that feels like a failure as a Christ follower. I should cling to Jesus right? That will make everything okay? And I can endure everything and anything!

But I will tell you this: I clung to Jesus all week. I reflected on His hesed love. My friend was flying right before me and I was texting her scripture verses from the Psalms on His unfailing love. And I believed every single word I texted her. I had taken it in all week… but my faith wavered, when I felt like my foundation of safety was shaken.

So, What About Love?

So during the week away, I wrote down every single verse that the word hesed shows up in the Old Testament. To give you an idea how much time this took to reflect… that word shows up about 250 times. Wow. And when you read them all together, it is overwhelmingly beautiful.

But what did I learn about the depth of this word?

Hesed love in the Old Testament is probably closest to agape love (because that is the love we hear about most) in the New Testament, although the 2 words are vastly difference. The best way I can describe hesed is as loyal love. It is a love that is promised, and owed, and also based on mutual obligations of a covenant. It is a love that does not end, and is steadfast and sure. This love is promised and given to the people of God who are faithful.

Agape is different in that it is undeserved, and not based on merit or condition.

Rare and Beautiful….

Both of these loves are rare to see and find, and both blindingly beautiful.

His love endures forever…

He gives His king great victories; He shows unfailing kindness to His anointed. 2 Samuel 22:51

And He is the King of kings. That means there is only one of Him.

And on the way to the airport today, there was a large cross on the side of the highway. And after reading about the crucifixion this morning, it reminded me that there were 3 men hanging on crosses that day. The King of the Jews was hung in the middle. I am sure that was a statement to the people. Don’t claim to be God.

But here is the thing. One criminal mocked Jesus, testing Him to show His power in that moment. The other recognized who Jesus was, and asked Him to remember him in His kingdom. That day, one criminal arrived in hell. The other entered paradise.

But the third Man on the cross would do something the 2 criminals didn’t. He would rescue His people from the consequence of their disobedience. And He would do something else that they wouldn’t… He would leave the grave physically abandoned. I am not sure if Jesus walked out of the grave, because to my knowledge, scripture never outright says that. But if He did walk out of it, He walked right into a garden. That is how much He loves us. Enough to stay on a cross, but then overcome the grave. This is our King.

I am the daughter of the King of kings.

Yes, I am a daughter of the King of kings. The daughter of a king is a princess, and I have a crown ring on my right hand to remind me of my place in His Kingdom every single day. And so are you in you believe that God sent His only Son, to die for you, so that you can be with Him today in paradise, if you follow Him with all of your days. His love if faithful and kind, devoted, and enduring.

He made His love clear to me today. Yes, my faith faltered, but His faithfulness was unshaken. But today, when there was an issue with my license and my bags, a nice older customer service lady helped me. It wasn’t just one issue, it was like 3, and she heard my dad yelling at me on the phone. After I hung up the phone she looked me in the eye, and said “I am here to help you, I am not leaving you until we are done.”

I felt so much relief in that moment, knowing that she was used by God, to let me know that He loves me, and He saw me, and He wasn’t going to leave me, and was going to surround me with people who would guide me. Wow.

My faith may not always be perfect, and neither will yours. And our fear sometimes may outweigh our faith. But let me leave you with one of my favorite scriptures from Deuteronomy 33: 27

The eternal God is our strong refuge, and underneath are everlasting arms. And those arms are arms of hesed love.