Our Compassionate God

 "But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love." Nehemiah 9:17

    Sometimes, the best way to comprehend something is to consider its opposite.

    My eldest daughter and I were talking about things of the faith one day when she presented a new way of appreciating God. "I'm glad God is a good God," she said. "What if He were not?"

    Indeed! As I contemplated this, visions of a vindictive bully hurling hundred-pound hailstones and jagged lightning bolts at cowering people who ran for cover filled my mind. What if the sun rose and set at whatever times He got around to it? What if He decided to spin the earth a tad faster one day? 

    To further validate her point, I turned to the scriptures where I found at least eight verses that specifically describe God as gracious and compassionate. Isn't that wonderful?

    During a radio sermon, the preacher told of a farmer who noticed a flock of sparrows that were desperate to escape the inclement weather, so the compassionate man thought to lure the birds into the warm shelter of his barn. As soon as he approached them, however, they flew off, frightened by his size. He tried various ways to lure them, using food and what not, but they didn't trust him. The farmer thought, "If only I could become like one of them, then I could lead them into safety."

    This is an apt description of the incarnation, when God became like one of us. He leads us to the Promised Land of eternal life in Christ Jesus, hemming us in behind and before. 

    I jotted this down in my journal, not sure where I read it: "Jesus would come not just to fill me or support me. He would come alongside me as my ally to fight for me. He would come as my companion to go forward with me. He would come as my Redeemer to buy me back and take me home. In the raging of physical warfare, in the hidden torment of spiritual battle, or in my times of rest and peace, Jesus is 'God with me.'" 

"When He (Jesus) saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Matthew 9:36