https://hesedwords.com/ Devotional reflections by Norm Reed. Scripture, justice, and the love that holds. Written for the road. en-au https://hesedwords.com/images/feed-icon.png https://hesedwords.com/ https://hesedwords.com/reflections/kept-anyway.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/kept-anyway.html Sun, 09 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +1000 A reflection on 1 Chronicles 4:9–10 — Jabez, the nine chapters of genealogy nobody reads, and what it means to be remembered before anyone writes it down. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/god-alone.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/god-alone.html Sat, 08 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +1000 Psalm 62 leans six times on ak, a fencing word — only, alone, nothing more. David commands his own soul to be still, is battered, and has to command it again. Written from the far side of a cardiac arrest. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/the-piece-i-keep-picking-up.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/the-piece-i-keep-picking-up.html Thu, 06 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +1000 Reading to the end of Zechariah and not finishing it. The book had every reason to end on the throne, or at the open door in the mountain. It ends in a kitchen, with someone reaching for a pot. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/the-one-thing-he-wouldnt-delegate.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/the-one-thing-he-wouldnt-delegate.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +1000 A young man in Zechariah's second vision is stopped mid-survey — the cord was not the wrong instrument, just not the last word. A hard man in Papua New Guinea handed over every authority except the one to be merciful. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/the-vow.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/the-vow.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +1000 Psalm 61 asks four times for a place, and every shelter in it has an owner. Then a vow appears and the prayer tilts: heard first, performed last, with the shelter sitting in between. Not the shape of a bargain. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/what-is-wicked-in-this-story.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/what-is-wicked-in-this-story.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +1000 Psalm 58 ends with the righteous bathing their feet in the blood of the wicked — unusable, until verse one turns out to say who it's actually addressed to. Not criminals. The bench. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/those-who-know-their-god.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/those-who-know-their-god.html Sat, 01 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +1000 Daniel 11:32 promises the people who know their God shall be strong and do exploits — a verse that once became, for a young Christian with an explanation for every date, a chapter about knowing better instead of knowing God. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/this-i-know.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/this-i-know.html Fri, 31 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +1000 Psalm 56 never says we, only I. Batach — to lean your whole weight on something and find out whether it holds. This I know, that God is for me — a line that only comes after the tossings have been numbered. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/pride.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/pride.html Thu, 30 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +1000 Waking with thoughts upon the bed, like Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 — and the discovery that pride never feels like pride from the inside, only ever like accuracy. The verdict we reach about our own humility is useless. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/i-am-like-an-olive-tree.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/i-am-like-an-olive-tree.html Tue, 28 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +1000 Two men stand in the same psalm under the same verb. Doeg trusted in the abundance of his riches; David answers, but I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. Batach — the same posture, different ground. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/coincidence.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/coincidence.html Mon, 27 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +1000 The book of Esther never once names God, and reads at first like a story about luck — until nahafokh hu, it was turned about, arrives at the pivot. A reflection on the dice that named Purim, and a Friday-the-thirteenth morning that turned the same way. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/the-sacrifice-of-thanksgiving.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/the-sacrifice-of-thanksgiving.html Fri, 24 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +1000 Psalm 50 opens like a courtroom, and the first thing God says is that he is not hungry — the offerings were never supply. What he wants: offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving; the one who offers thanksgiving glorifies me. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/understanding.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/understanding.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +1000 Reading Psalm 49, a state funeral came back to me. 'Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, is like the beasts that perish.' Not intelligence. Da'at — the knowing of God that is not in the head but in the hands. https://hesedwords.com/reflections/in-the-midst-of-the-temple.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/in-the-midst-of-the-temple.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 05:30:00 +1000 Psalm 48 builds the city — and then Selah. When the pause ends, the question surfaces: not what does the city look like, but what is it for? If hesed is what Zion is built on, does my life exude it? Does the church? https://hesedwords.com/reflections/see-me-trying.html https://hesedwords.com/reflections/see-me-trying.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +1000 I had misread Nehemiah's prayer as ledger-keeping. It is the vulnerability of worship itself: a child carrying a crayon drawing to their father. Not asking for payment. Asking to be seen.