Skip to main content

Compassion

This morning I was reading Job 42 and a series of other scriptures that gave encouragement to trust that God will restore you after your period of suffering. Job, of course, is a pinnacle example of this. After Job suffered, God blessed him with more wealth and with a lot more children and allowed him to live 140 more years- allowing Job to see the next 4 generations! While reading this chapter I was struck by verses 10-11.

10: And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 
11: Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.

After reading this I thought: "Where were these siblings and others, before the Lord restored Job's riches?" Did these people express sympathy and offer physical and financial comfort to Job while he was in despair? The answer is no. (See Job 19:13-19)

Thinking these thoughts made me realize that it is much easier to despise God and our circumstances, when we are left alone in our suffering. Job was blessed in the sense that he had a strong and unshakable faith in God. Not everyone is strong like Job. Not everyone has the disposition or upbringing (and I mean upbringing as- a long history of faith and memories to reflect on how trusting in God ultimately pays off) to have an unshakable faith in God.

So that made me wonder, who are those around us that we see suffering? Inside and outside of the church. It may be easier for them to have a stronger faith in God, look beyond their current sufferings, and trust that God has a higher purpose for their life, if we show them a little sympathy and compassionate support. My pastor regularly comments that we don't want to be a church (or a people) that refuses to "touch" others. Meaning, we don't want to be known as people who won't get involved in the lives of others who are suffering and struggling because of choices thrust upon them or choices they made themselves. We want to be a people who sees the needs of others and steps in to offer comfort and to pray, because miracles happen! We do not want to be a people who stay away in order to feel safe in our own comfort zone. We want to confront and comfort people's realities with God's love, his compassion, and his truth - because there is a higher purpose for us all.

I want to encourage us to think about whether we are really seeing each other and those around us. When we see, let's also act.

Comments

Post a Comment

Please share your thoughts and reflections spurred on by this post. :)

Popular posts from this blog

Insignificance: Parable of the Lost Son

Hello! Women's Prayer Call Series: Parable of the Lost Son Today I want to share my thoughts on the parable of the lost son which is found in Luke 15 verses 11 through 32. When I read through this parable last week, I felt led to talk about the struggle of feeling mentally lost and insignificant because of where you are right now - whatever those circumstances may be. I want you to look at this story and see how Jesus is telling us that God cares a lot about the wellbeing of each and every one of us. I want to encourage you to see how valuable you are to God right where you are. So you know where I’m going with this. Here’s a quick summary of the parable, and I think it’s a good idea to read it in the context of all of chapter 15. Jesus starts with a story of a man losing one of his sheep; he describes how the man leaves the other 99 sheep to go after the 1 that was lost. When the man finds the lost sheep, he puts the sheep on his shoulders, brings it home, and gathers his friends ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Advice, Short & Sweet

The chapters I've read and reflected on for the past couple of days had good advice that stood out to me here and there. I noticed an overriding theme that wisdom comes through controlling our hearts, reactions, and in checking how we relate with other people. Below is a list of verses that were key for me. Proverbs 16 gives good instruction on having wisdom over your emotions and spirit. 16:2 : This verse tells us that the Lord weighs our spirit. It's not enough to do the right things. God wants our motivations to be pure and righteous too. 16:20 : Here we see that using wisdom to handle the issues we face will bring about good results. We also learn that trusting in God, will bring us happiness. 16:32 : Here is encouragement to temper our anger. Don't let it fly off the handle. God tells us that controlling our angry emotions and spirit makes us strong. Proverbs 17 gives good instruction on having wisdom in how we treat each other. 17:15 : We should treat each...
2 comments
Read more

The Expanse

I participated in a Zoom prayer call tonight with other women at my church and at the end I just had that feeling of loveliness. It felt good, it felt connected, and it made me want to connect with God even more. I opened my Bible and read Jeremiah 2:2 .  Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.” My thoughts after reading this was: Lord increase my wonder of You.  When things are brand new we have a strong urge to learn more, seek more, engage more. When the shine wears off, we become complacent and less interested. Maybe it’s because we feel we’ve learned all we need to know. Maybe it’s because we are too comfortable in the now. Maybe it’s because we can’t see the possibility of there being so much more for us to gain.  When it comes to my spirit and You, God, please open my eyes to see the expanse of all that you have for me to...
Post a Comment
Read more