Lovingkindness

 

Psalm 123 

I lift up my eyes to You, O You Whose throne is in the heavens. See, the eyes of servants look to the hand of their owner. The eyes of a woman servant look to the hand of her owner. So our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He shows us loving-kindness.

Show loving-kindness to us, O Lord. Show loving-kindness to us. For we have had our fill of hate. The proud have laughed at us too long. We have had more than enough of their hate.

In most translations of Psalm 123, “mercy” is used instead of “loving-kindness” but we so seldom use or display lovingkindness that the word seemed to glare at me when I came upon it in the New Life Version’s translation of the psalm.

Lovingkindness is one of those words that carry a depth of meaning as does its Hebrew counterpart, “hesed”; It’s not a disposition but more of an attitude than anything else, that is born out of a place of authenticity.

There is no pretence in lovingkindness, it cannot be feigned. This is a heartfelt, loyal love that is divinely implanted. It is love that expects neither repayment nor reward. It’s love that doesn’t count the cost and when it refers to God, it’s that how wide and how long and how high and how deep love that is meted out to sinners (you and me), in unmerited kindness.

God’s lovingkindness designates His great faithfulness, grace and mercy.

Remember Your loving-pity and Your loving-kindness, O Lord. For they have been from old. (Psalm 25:6 NLV)

God’s lovingkindness is priceless.

Of what great worth is Your loving-kindness, O God! (Psalm 36:7 NLV)

God’s lovingkindness is everlasting.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. (Psalm 136:1 NLV; 2-26)

On a pilgrimage to worship the Lord, the psalmist is asking the Lord to show lovingkindness after the pilgrims have experienced their fill of hate and, centuries later, that hasn’t changed, for when we are in distress, we too seek lovingkindness from our Lord.

We long for God to show us lovingkindness but we, like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the good Samaritan (see Luke 10:25-37), are hard pressed to show even the faintest love to our fellowman.

We’re so focused on the road we are on, that we forget there are others traveling on the same road. And worse than that we keep our eyes cast down, preferring to ignore those on the road who are injured, gravely hurt or deeply wounded.

It’s easy to hide our faces from the ills that others face – the hate and the injustice – especially when it isn’t affecting us directly. We curl up in our comfortableness not wanting to have anything spoil or interrupt our journey.

Because our lives are normal by the world’s standards, does not mean that we are going the right way or that we’re doing the right things or making the right choices.
 
So, take a good look at where you’re headed. When was the last time you looked up to really see what’s going on around you outside of your own experiences? Have you been lifting your eyes to God, Whose throne is in the heavens?
 
With everything that is going on in this world today with all the pain and suffering, conflicts and wars and the abuse and killing of innocent children, it’s sometimes difficult to lift your eyes, you probably don’t even want to. You're not alone...

Lately, we’ve all been looking down but we need to lift up our eyes, not to focus on the world but to see above and beyond the hills to the hand of our Lord, as we continue our ascent.

We need to look to the Lord our God, until He shows us loving-kindness by planting its seed deep into our hearts so that we may be able to show lovingkindness to others along the way.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Lovingkindness“ ©2026 May 21, 2026