When the LORD reveals his Presence to Moses in the 34th Chapter of Exodus, he proclaims that he abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness, as captured by the Hebrew word hesed.

When I think of examples of hesed, I think of my mother watching for me to get off the school bus when I was in Kindergarten and First Grade.

She watched out the kitchen window.

She was always there, making sure I was safe. And that I knew she was glad to see me.

Part of letting me know she was glad to see me was asking, “How’d your day go?”. “What did you do in school today?”.

All Fall, I excitedly told her about a long term project I was working on.

I was coloring pictures of Fall topics such as leaves changing colors, farmers harvesting apples and pumpkins, Indians helping the Pilgrims, and the Pilgrims seeking freedom of religion and befriending Indians.

She probably helped me by cutting out glossy photos in magazines such as LOOK and LIFE.

She knew that I was going to bring a “magazine” (made up of my drawings and photos) home with me on the last day before Thanksgiving.

So, when I arrived home that day, she asked where it was. Horror of horrors, I had left it on my bus!

As my tears started, my mother knew she had to go to the bus garage and save my “magazine”.

Sure enough, she found it beside my seat.

Like my mother, the LORD always takes a great interest in whatever I’m working on. He praises everything I make that is good. That is very good! (Genesis 1:10,12,18,21,25,31).

Like my mother, the LORD always is motivated by hesed, abounding in love and faithfulness. (Exodus 34:6).

Like my mother, the LORD always searches for lost works of my hands as carefully, as diligently, and as tirelessly as the housewife who Jesus described in the 15th Chapter of Luke. (Luke 15:8-9).

Like my mother, the LORD always has plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11).

Like my mother, the LORD always has compassion on me, and satisfies me in the morning with his unfailing love—with his unfailing hesed. (Psalm 90:14).

Like my mother, the LORD always empowers me to sing for joy and be glad all my days. (Psalm 90:14).

Like my mother, the LORD always rests his favor on me and establishes the work of my hands for me. (Psalm 90:14).

Yes, the LORD always establishes the work of my hands for me! (Psalm 90:17).

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For more of my thoughts about my mother showing hesed, please read my blogs “My Mother Watching for My Bus”, “My Mother Noticing I Didn’t Get Off My Bus”, and “My Mother Watching Over Me and Protecting Me”.

For more of my thoughts about the hesed of the LORD God, please read my blogs “The Hesed of the LORD Endures Forever”, “Hesed Saves and Nurtures Baby Moses”, “Hesed Saves Israel—Passover”, “Hesed Nurtures Israel—From the Red Sea to Mount Sinai”, “Hesed Nurtures Israel—Mount Sinai”, “Hesed Establishes the Work of Moses’s Hands—Mount Nebo”, “Hesed Blesses Forever—David”, “Walking Humbly With Hesed—Micah”, “Hoping in Hesed—Jeremiah”, “Hesed Returns Israel to Jerusalem”, “Jesus Embodies Hesed—The Vision of Isaiah”, “Jesus Embodies Hesed—Fulfilling the Law of Moses and the Prophets”, “Jesus Embodies Hesed—Sowing the Ideals of the Law of Moses and the Prophets”, and “Jesus Embodies Hesed—Saving Lost Sheep, Lost Coins, and Lost Sons”.

For more about my mother, please read my blog “My Mother’s Preaching and Teaching” and the passage “Moses’ Mother Saves Him” in my book The Promised Land, at pages 81-82, together with its endnotes 1 & 2 about my own mother.

Fo more applications of Psalm 90 (titled “A Prayer of Moses the Man of God”), please read “PART TWO: Establishing the Work of Your Hands: Moses” in my book The Promised Land, at pages 73-120.

For my thoughts about the Pilgrims and about Indigenous Peoples, please read the opening of my book Visions of America (published together with Visions of the Church), at pages 10-18.