Week 38: Compassion
Weekly Chapters:
Hosea 1 - Jonah 4
Passage of the Week:
Amos 9:11-15
Adjective
1. One who expresses feelings of deep sympathy and/or sorrow for another
Thesaurus:
Benevolence
Empathy
Grace
Tenderness
Humanity
Kindness
Mercy
Sorrow
Father God,
Show me how to be compassionate and loving. Give me the loving heart You desire for me and the ability to spread love and compassion to Your people.
Amen
Authentic vulnerability:
Compassion for the hurting is easy for me. I can feel empathy for the homeless, the hurting, unloved, the puppy in the shelter, the stray cat.
But, I am much less compassionate to those I love. My compassion is tethered by expectations, by limitations. I’m so willing to provide grace to those who are strangers, yet not those with whom I am close.
Why does my compassion have limits and requirements with those I love, while grace and kindness are so easily expressed to those I don’t truly know?
What is your Authentic Truth?
Study:
The books of Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Jonah are all about God‘s compassion towards His people. Over and over again, we see the Israelites sinning against God and His compassion for them.
In Hosea 11:8-9, God comes from feeling deserted by his people and dishonored, but in Verse 8, He says, “how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go?” (NLT). God loves His people. In the second half of the verse, He says, “my heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows.” God struggles with being turned against and dishonored by His people, yet He cannot destroy them. In Verse 9, He states that He is not a mortal but instead holy, and so He will not destroy His people.
In Joel 2:12-32, God asked for His people to return Him, not in the motions of step:
fast for a number of days
weep
etc. checking each box on what to do next
But instead, truly change their hearts. Stop checking the boxes and instead change your heart for God because God is eager to forgive and bring his love and mercy to all people (Verses 12-13 NLT). God goes further to tell the Israelites all the things He wants to do for them.
In Amos 9:11-15, God brings His grace and favor to all Nations (Verse 12 NLT), extending His love and grace and compassion to all nations.
And then in Jonah, God’s desire to bring the people of Nineveh back to Him through His reluctant prophet Jonah demonstrates His love for His people. While as a child, I did not fully understand the book of Jonah, only the story of the big fish, the book of Jonah is about God’s unfailing love and compassion for His people. In chapter 4, Jonah is angry with God for showing mercy and compassion to Nineveh. Jonah is so mad that he wants to die. Jonah’s source of anger is uncertain but what God illustrates is His love for his people. God exhibits Jonah’s misguided compassion in the example of the plant where Jonah is angry that the plant was killed off and is furious when the lives of 120,000 people were spared. God says in Verse 11 that Nineveh was filled with 120,000 misguided people who lived in spiritual darkness, given to their desire to repent, shouldn’t God show compassion? And the book ends there.
But this reveals that God’s love for His people was always present. God was always so willing to forgive His people. Yes, God had expectations of His people. And yes, they often fell short of His expectations, but God still proves His love and compassion. And God’s mercy is great for the Israelite people despite their consistently falling short.
This is God’s example, God’s decree for us. God wants us to love, give grace, and compassion to all. Don’t be a Jonah.
Father God,
Thank You for providing me with grace and compassion even when I do not deserve it. Thank You for showing me the way and opening my eyes to new things in Your world. Give me the courage to live out a life You desire for me.
Amen.
Homework:
Write a story of a time when you did not give grace and compassion to someone close to you.
What should you have done instead?
How could you rewrite this part of history?
Take it one step further, talk to that person, apologize for not offering grace, and shower them with love.
