The Character of God: Week 2 - Compassionate
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
—Exodus 34:6-7 NASB
And Moses hurried to bow low toward the ground and worship. Then he said, “If in any way I have found favor in Your sight, Lord, please may the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our wrongdoing and our sin, and take us as Your own possession.” —Exodus 34:8-9 NASB
Humble
Compassion
Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
The one woman said, “Pardon me, my lord: this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.
And it happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house.
Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him.
So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.
When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead! But when I examined him closely in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne!”
Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” So they spoke before the king.
Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’”
And the king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king.
And the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”
But the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply stirred over her son, and she said, “Pardon me, my lord! Give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other woman was saying, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; cut him!”
Then the king replied, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” —I Kings 3:16-27 NASB
Emotion
1). God’s
Therefore You handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them,But when they cried out to You in the time of their distress,You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassionYou gave them people who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
But as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You;Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them.When they cried out again to You, You heard from heaven,And many times You rescued them according to Your compassion,
—Nehemiah 9:27-28 NASB
2). Used to
“For this is like the days of Noah to Me,When I swore that the waters of Noah Would not flood the earth again;So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you Nor rebuke you. —Isaiah 54:9 NASB
But He, being compassionate, forgave their wrongdoing and did not destroy them; And often He restrained His anger And did not stir up all His wrath. —Psalm 78:38 NASB
3). God the compassionate
“Can a woman forget her nursing childAnd have no compassion on the son of her womb?Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;Your walls are continually before Me. —Isaiah 49:15-16 NASB
Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
—Psalm 103:13 NASB
Action
4).
He will again take pity on us; He will trample on our wrongdoings. Yes, You will cast all their sinsInto the depths of the sea. —Micah 7:19 NASB
Do not hold us responsible for the guilty deeds of our forefathers; Let Your compassion come quickly to meet us,For we have become very low. —Psalm 79:8 NASB
5). Deliverance of
Let the wicked abandon his way,And the unrighteous person his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him,And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. —Isaiah 55:7 NASB
Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness; According to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings. —Psalm 51:1 NASB
6). Deliverance of
and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. —Deuteronomy 30:2-3 NASB
“For a brief moment I abandoned you,But with great compassion I will gather you.
—Isaiah 54:7 NASB
7). Compassion in
Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials.
—Daniel 1:9 NASB“Please, Lord, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and please make Your servant successful today and grant him mercy before this man.” Now I was the cupbearer to the king. —Nehemiah 1:11 NASB
New Testament
Yahweh’s deep compassion finds
– embraces the sick –
Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.
Seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. —Matthew 9:35-36 NASB
– cares for the outcast –
And a man with leprosy came to Jesus, imploring Him and kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and *said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” —Mark 1:40-41 NASB
– deeply moved by human suffering –
“I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me for three days already and have nothing to eat.
—Mark 8:2 NASB
– The ultimate expression of compassion: –
and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed.
—I Peter 2:24 NASB
Nebo Crossing:
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
—Luke 6:36 NASB
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. —2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NASB
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. —Philippians 2:1-2 NASB
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also.
—Colossians 3:12-13 NASB
God’s Compassion: a heartfelt response to the pain of His people
Jesus’s Compassion: self-sacrifice, where He enters our suffering and takes on death and offers us forgiveness and rescue.
Our Compassion: a heartfelt response to having experience the compassion of God.