God, Your Compassionate Father

Scripture: "The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion." Psalm 116:5 

What is Compassion?

I want you to imagine that your best friend broke his leg and has to use crutches everywhere. He’s so tired and is getting blisters on his hands. So you go out and buy a pair of crutches and use them alongside him. In the same way it takes longer and much more effort for him to go anywhere, so it does for you. Just how he gets tired and blistered, so do you. You walk alongside him, even though you don’t have to, feeling his pain and being his friend. That’s compassion. And it’s the first word God used to describe Himself.

Beyond Compassion

Compassion literally means to suffer with. When I have a problem, my mom says she feels it too—that’s the compassion of a parent. And God has that for you, only much more: “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him” Psalm 103:13. But God goes far beyond just feeling your pain. He chose to take it on Himself, and completely remove it from you.

Jesus—the Pain Exchanger

When Jesus came to earth, it wasn’t just to show people a better way to live, or what God is really like, though I am so thankful He did both! Jesus’ mission went beyond feeling the pain of being human, with sickness and sadness and pain: He came to literally take your pain and suffering for Himself, so that you could have eternal life with God. Read here what He did for you, predicted hundreds of years in advance:

He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. Isaiah 53:3-5

Jesus didn’t just feel you pain; He took it from you. It’s like you had a 50 lb weight around your leg, and He didn’t just strap one to His feet to feel your pain: He knelt down, took your weight (and everyone else’s!) and strapped it to His own leg, so that you could walk free. 

The Deepest Pain

You say, “But I still feel pain!” Yes, you will experience sadness, sickness, and hardships on this earth. But Jesus completely changed the root and the ending of your life. Imagine your life as a bookshelf filled with books, held together by two bookends. The bookends used to be rotten and moldy: how your life began in sin and would end in sin, separated from God. But Jesus personally took your moldy bookends and replaced them with His golden ones, giving you His eternal life, love, and forgiveness.

Come to your Compassionate God

And all the books in between? Jesus completely understands them. He willingly walked in your shoes and felt the pain of sickness, loneliness—even separation from God when He hung on the cross. Hebrews 4:15 says, “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin.” So that chapter of loneliness, longing, or hurt, He is reading right alongside you. God wants you to come to Him as your compassionate Father, knowing that He is not going to be cold-hearted toward your pain, but tender-hearted and caring. Anytime you have a hurt or pain, run straight to Him! No one understands more or can carry it better than Jesus.