Scripture
Psalm 23:4 — “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”
One day, in third grade, Layne came home from school in tears. A group of girls had been systematically excluding her, whispering when she walked by, making her eat lunch alone. Classic mean-girl stuff that cuts deep.
My first instinct? It was game on!
I wanted to call their parents, march into that school, and make those girls understand exactly what they’d done wrong.
But that was unreasonable. And Layne was mortified.
“You can’t get involved. Please don’t say anything!”
This situation drug on for weeks. In those weeks I learned a lot about parenting and even more about love.
Love doesn’t always look like protection from consequences. Sometimes love looks like walking through hard things together.
So instead of swooping in to fix it, I sat with her pain. We talked about how to respond with dignity. We practiced brave conversations. I prayed for those girls (even though I really, REALLY didn’t feel like it).
One night, after a particularly long evening of listening to the tough stuff that had happened throughout the day, Layne asked. “Why are you crying?”
“Because I hurt when I see you hurt!”
Undoubtedly, we all have people like that in our lives. That when they hurt, we hurt.
That’s hesed too. Not just the fierce protection, but the tender presence that says, “I won’t abandon you in this valley.”
See, we’ve turned love into something soft and passive.
But biblical hesed? It has fight in it. Not the kind of fight that attacks people, but the kind that refuses to let darkness win. (Maybe let’s all pause and read that again . . . ) Anyway . . . .
When David writes about walking through the valley of the shadow of death, he’s not talking about God removing all valleys from his path. He’s talking about God’s hesed that walks through them with him.
Sometimes God’s hesed fights FOR us — moving mountains, opening doors, providing miraculous solutions.
But sometimes God’s hesed fights WITH us — giving us strength for the journey, courage for the conversation, grace for the long haul.
Both are love. Both are hesed.
The question isn’t whether God will protect you from every hard thing. The question is whether you trust that God’s hesed will MEET you in every hard thing.
Layne’s situation at school didn’t magically resolve overnight. But she learned something more valuable than having her problems fixed: she learned she wasn’t alone in them.
That’s the fight in love. Not always fighting against your circumstances, but always fighting alongside you through them.
Takeaway
Hesed has fight in it. Sometimes it fights for you, sometimes it fights with you. But it never fights without you.
Closing Prayer
God, thank You that Your hesed doesn’t just protect me from valleys — it walks with me through them. Give me courage to trust Your presence more than I fear my circumstances.
Grace and Peace,
Andrea