Compassion

So, I mentioned in part 1 the joy we feel when we don’t give up. We find ourselves at our wits end, thinking the joy will never come. And then, along comes the breakthrough, pulling us out of the depths of despair. We are made whole again. Sustained, renewed, and many times reinvented, to the point where we are better off coming out than we were going in. Who we were when we began our walk through the tribulation, we find coming out, we are made brighter, shiner, happier than before.  Gods unfailing love and mercy rescues us, we brush off, and continue our journey. But after all the “Dear God please help Me’s,” and our prayers being answered…, do we just walk away until the next tribulation comes to surface? Because if we did, without being consumed with the urge, after the fact, to draw ourselves closer to him, if only as an act of appreciation, then I would say it was all done in vain and with a negligent spirit. Negligent in giving honor to Him, the one who has set us free. The one who has taken the time to answer our prayers, send mercy, and forgiveness of all we have done. Negligent, to He, who has directed our path and made us whole. Or lifted us and gave us strength to sustain and strengthen us so that we would endure whatever it was we were going through. For to come out of these things and not have the urge to be jubilant. To be grateful… To be out of our mind with praise to Him, for saving us from what could have been, to what it is now, it would be very much so negligent on our part. In Isaiah 58, The Lord states when he restores us, all the mountains will be made into roads to walk freely as we wish. Compassion will follow us wherever we go, so that we will lack nothing.  And the heavens and earth will shout for joy and burst into song because they have seen and experienced this compassion. For how could anyone feel any other way once experiencing His goodness, and not be mindful of His love, and because of it be joyous? Our spirit would have to be either so caught up in the world, it passes us by, or the experience so menial in our own minds, it doesn’t even hit us. Calling on God to help us through the tough times in the midst of the chaos, should not be taken for granted. We miss the essence of it all. The reason for the tribulation. The opportunity to be jubilant. If not for the fact, He, being such a forgiving God, knowing our shortcomings, yet choosing to help us anyway. Because we are His children. But if we are his children, we must then help others. Though our praise is like fruit of the lips to him [Hebrews 13:15], it is said not to forget to help others. In Matthew 9:13 it is explained the desire of the Lord is for us to have mercy for those who do not know Him. Not so much that we give our praise as a sacrifice of ourselves, but that we show mercy to others. An unselfish desire from our father, to want for his children to be taken care of rather than to receive praise and honor for His own mercies which He bestows upon us.

We can call on him all day, but if we are not living, or at least trying to live as an example of the living God, he will not hear. In Isaiah 58 it explains we cannot ask God to help us if we turn our back on others. If we have no compassion for His children, He will not be as quick to have compassion for us. If we go to church acting as though we are God like, but once we feel no is watching, do otherwise, He will not hear our cry. It continues to state once we have chosen to compassionately help others, it is “[t]hen [our] light will shine like the dawning sun, and [we] will quickly be healed. [Our] honesty will protect [us] as [we] advance, and the glory of the LORD will defend [us] from behind. When [we] beg the LORD for help, [H]e will answer, ‘Here I am (Isaiah 58:8-9)!’” And [H]e will bring [us] through the fire, without scorch and fully restored.

God is merciful to all. But when those who are called walk in his ways, and show the same compassion and mercy for others, which He has given to us, not only will He be our refuge and shield, but our restorer of all that needs to be restored.

CWB