Day 17: Compassion

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

— Isaiah 30:18

One of the most important things that we suffer from is an incorrect picture of God.  It causes us a lot of anxiety.  We imagine that God is a vindictive God looking to find every fault that we have and eager to destroy us for our sins.  But how opposite is the truth!

When we look at how God responded to the fall of mankind we see a plan that costs Him dearly.  Rather than destroy the sinners he decides to restore them.  Hmmm.  That seems to be the opposite of how many today describe Him.  And the fact that God’s Son gives his life in order for us to be saved touches me deeply.

So when I am hurting I can come boldly or confidently to God because I know he cares for me.  His love is healing.  He has compassion.  He is touched by what we go through.

Knowing I am the recipient of compassion enables me to have compassion for others.  I don’t excuse what is wrong.  But I consider the feelings and thoughts that lead to that action and seek to love them anyway and pray for them.  I hope others will have compassion towards me.  When I open myself to have compassion for others I find forgiveness and my heart begins to heal.

Today I choose to open up my heart towards others because I’m grateful for God’s compassion towards me.