“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”
Exodus 34:6
Compassion is defined as “a feeling of deep sympathy and concern for the suffering or misfortune of others, coupled with a strong desire to alleviate that suffering”.
Our God is described as being compassionate in many verses of the Bible. Some examples are: Psalm 103:8, Psalm 145:8-9 and Psalm 86: 15. Lamentations 3:22-23 declares that God’s compassion on mankind is new every morning. God’s ultimate compassion was shown when He sent Jesus to die in our place. (John 3:16)
Jesus, too, was said to have had compassion on people. In the gospels of Matthew and Mark it is recorded that when Jesus saw the crowds of people, He had compassion on them. He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, caused the lame to walk, restored speech to the mute, returned life to those that were dead, fed the hungry and gave hope to many that were hopeless.
The deep, caring love we see displayed by God the Father and Jesus the Son are beyond our human understanding. We cannot perform the miracles of Jesus nor provide a plan of salvation for mankind. Yet, we are told in Colossians 3:12-13 t0 clothe ourselves with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience”. When we strive toward these characteristics we are showing the love of God, we are being a witness for Jesus and we are pointing others to the great God of compassion. The One that can take away all sin and renew lives. The One that can give salvation and make all things right again. Because He cares so deeply for us He desires that we have that good life with Him.
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