[Note: New podcast episode about The Apostles’ Creed — link in footnotes.]
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Thousands of years ago the people of God were encouraged with these words: “Yet the LORD set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today” (Deuteronomy 10:15).
In his book 3:16—The Numbers of Hope, Max Lucado points out something about this verse that I hadn’t noticed before. It has to do with the Hebrew verb “hasaq.” The verse I quoted above about how the Lord “set his affection on” his people, also carries the sense of binding. In other words, the Lord “binds” himself to his people.
Lucado explains: “Hasaq speaks to a tethered love, a love attached to something or someone. I’m picturing a mom connected by a child hardness to her rambunctious five-year-old as the two of them walk through a market. (I once thought the leashes were cruel; then I became a dad.)”*
Here’s why I think this insight is encouraging.
Have you ever had days when you felt as if your faith was lacking? As if you were somehow weak from a spiritual standpoint?
If so, this verse reminds us that God’s grip on us is greater than our grip on him. Our relationship with the Lord is not defined by our worst days. It’s defined by him.
Picture a parent and a child with one of those harnesses. The rope that connects the parent and the child exists because (a) the child belongs to the parent, and (b) the parent doesn’t want to lose the child even when he or she is going a bit nuts.
Now, imagine that God is the parent and you are that wild five-year-old!
Let’s seek faithfulness, prayerfulness, love and truth. But let’s also not falsely conclude that God will cut us loose every time we miss the mark.
Our relationship with the Lord is not defined by our worst days. It’s defined by him.
Notes:
-“Why do we say The Apostles’ Creed in church?” New podcast episode and blog. Click here, or find it on “The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ (Apple Music, Spotify, etc.)
-*Max Lucado, 3:16—The Numbers of Hope (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007), 27.
-The Up Devotional is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on June 29, 2026.
-Bible quotes are from the ESV.
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