Part B: the bunny represents God’s hesed love to me.
A book I heartily recommend by William Hendricks is The Light That Never Dies – A Story of Hope in the Shadows of Grief. A dear lady in our church gave it to me soon after my Stage IV cancer diagnosis last year. It is a book that will encourage anyone dealing with ANY loss in life. I probably will come back to it in another post, but for now, I’d like to:
- convey how William Hendricks connected for me the children’s storybook The Runaway Bunny, written by Margaret Wise Brown AND
- God’s incredibly unfathomable steadfast love to me!!
Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love [hesed] of the LORD. (Ps. 107:43)
First, The Runaway Bunny:
The first lines of Margaret Wise Brown’s book are:
Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.
So he said to his mother, “I am running away.”
“If you run away,” said his mother, “I will run after you.
For you are my little bunny.”
“If you run after me,” said the little bunny,
“I will become a fish in a trout stream
and I will swim away from you.”
“If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother,
“I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.”
The story goes on to show the bunny and mother becoming various things: the bunny a rock – the mother a mountain climber, the bunny a crocus -the mother a gardener, the bunny a bird, -the mother the tree he comes home to, etc. The mother bunny relentlessly pursues and the bunny finally just says:
“I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny.”
Little Bunny realizes being safe with mother bunny is the best place to be!
Second, the parallel between the childrens’ story and God’s hesed love:
…The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love [hesed] and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love [hesed] for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…(Exod. 34:6-7a)
According to Will Kynes in an article which originally appeared in the Summer 2010 issue of Knowing & Doing from the C.S. Lewis Institute:
“hesed is primarily translated by the Greek word for “mercy,” but several other words are also used, including the words for “righteousness,” “grace,” “glory,” and “hope.” The words that parallel hesed in the Hebrew text have a broad range stretching from “faithfulness” and “goodness” to “strength” and “salvation.” In English Bibles, hesed is translated with a variety of words, including “kindness,” “love,” “steadfast love,” “loyalty,” “favor,” “devotion,” and “mercy.””
https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/webfm_send/430
Attempts to define the word have filled quite a few volumes of thought by various scholars! I’ll let the scholars take the time to interpret the all-encompassing and difficult-to-define meaning; for me, I just draw comfort that this hesed love is poured out on ME, His child! I can wrap my arms around that concept and bask in the warmth of His embrace!
Throughout these days of uncertainty with my health and even now with the Coronavirus pandemic, I am so thankful to just be God’s “little bunny,” as-it-were, with simple, childlike, trusting faith. I don’t always get it right. There are times I find myself chasing after the wrong things, or even wanting too much of a good thing, but God RELENTLESSLY PURSUES ME, because He knows my weakness. If my gaze is not completely on Him, I won’t be satisfied, complete or whole as He intended.
Especially comforting is the experiential knowledge of God when earthly comforts fail and disappoint! I can stray from the place of intimacy with Him, just like The Runaway Bunny, but when I return and enjoy that relationship again, it far surpasses anything else on this earth. I don’t have to keep “chasing after”…..I can just be…..because “lo, I am with You always, even unto the end of the world.” Matthew 28:20
God is more than enough. His hesed love is more than enough. He holds us fast!
Psalm 139:7-10 “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
Until next time,
Fuzzy Bunny Beauty 
