God's Compassion 1

"The Lord is compassionate & gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love." Psalm 103:5

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear (respect) him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:13-14

Have you ever heard the saying "Walk a mile in my shoes." Elvis Presley recorded a song with the same title and the first lines of the song goes "You never stood in that man's shoes, or saw things through his eyes or stood with helpless hands while the heart inside you dies. So help your brother along the way no matter where he starts. For the same God that made you, made him too." To have compassion on someone literally means to put yourself in another person's shoes, to feel what they are feeling, experience what they are experiencing and have the desire to help. This is the compassion that God has for you and me.

In fact when a person is baptized into Jesus Christ, all their sins are washed away and they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). A lot of times we receive this Spirit but don't know anything about it or understand it; but it is a part of God living and dwelling inside of us (More on the Holy Spirit in another topic). Who better to have compassion on us than the very God who created us, knows everything about us and experiences everything with us? He is slow to anger and abounding in love.

Have you ever been going through a hard time, a family member has died, you've gone through a break-up or divorce, your kid has had a serious accident, you've lost a job....fill in the blank; and a friend comes up to you and tells you what you need to do. (This can include friends in church!). We can all be so quick to give advice (especially men), but it takes investing your heart and emotions to truly connect with another person's pain & suffering. Compassion & Empathy build connection, telling someone “what to do,” unless the person has asked for advice, can actually cause disconnection. God is compassionate, he knows what we are going through, he also knows what we are feeling.....and feels with us and is therefore able to be gracious with us.

In Psalm 103:14 it says "he remembers that we are dust." The last time I looked, dust is an inanimate object, it can do nothing. God knows that we are dust and can do nothing apart from him therefore he treats us with compassion & grace. How many times do we put unrealistic expectations on ourselves and others and get frustrated when we don't live up to them? How sad this can be! If God is compassionate and gracious wouldn't it make sense to learn to be the same with ourselves and each other.

So the next time you think that God is a far off God, who doesn't care and just wants to tell you what to do, sit and contemplate these scriptures and allow God to sit with you, listen to you, care about you and love you, for as long as you need. He's not going anywhere!