Like as a father pitieth his children, So the LORD pitieth them that fear him. Psalm 103:13 (KJV).

REFLECT:
When we hear the word compassion what readily comes to mind is usually a mixture of certain kinds of emotions, or feelings, which we have been conditioned all our lives to demonstrate towards a person or a group of people who may be less fortunate or less privileged than we are. These feelings are– pity, being sorry, sorrow, sadness, sympathy, empathy, etc.

Of course, these types of feelings are not new to us, we see much of it being displayed in our world today, and sincerely, all the definitions are indicative of the word compassion and are not far from being correct. However, the question is, do these definitions give us a true picture of the word compassion?

Our Bible verse for today invites us into a deeper exploration of the word Compassion through the lenses of the psalmist King David. This is King David’s testimony about God from this we see the word compassion come alive, presenting it as a living, breathing, and active word. It is a word that intrinsically characterizes the very nature of a living God and is very much associated with God’s selfless love, a love that has the power to bring about effective results.

All over the Bible God demonstrates this characteristic and, as a Father, He is obligated to show this towards us. The following points are useful nuggets we can take away from the insight we get from the word compassion as it is portrayed in this Bible verse.

First, compassion is an intrinsic characteristic of God. Secondly, it is love in action. Thirdly, It is living and active, and produces deep consolatory results. Fourthly, God our Heavenly Father is obligated to show compassion to us His children. Fifth, God’s kind of compassion is not measured by our achievements, how much effort we make to meet up to a standard, nor does it have to do with our behavior how good or bad we are, our perfections or imperfections, but rather it is because of who He is. He is love and mercy personified.

The more our ability to understand and accept the fact that God’s compassion stems purely from a place of unconditional love and mercy, the easier it would be for us to rely on Him completely, especially when faced with uncertain situations.

Ebimobo W. Obasi

PLEASE PRAY ALONG:

FATHER GOD, I know I’m not perfect, but I’m thankful You don’t look at me any differently because of my mistakes. Thank You for having compassion for me, and for being willing to help me learn and grow. In JESUS MIGHTY NAME AMEN.