Hunter and Zoey needed their teeth cleaned. This means fasting, vets and anesthesia. How do you tell a cat that these unpleasant things are necessary? All they know is:
* They are hungry but have no food
* They are forced into hated carriers
* They are loaded into the car
* They are handed over to strangers
* Terrible, scary and painful things are happening,
And Mommy isn’t there.
Do they think I don’t love them anymore? This is happening because I love them! Yet my heart aches as I think of the pain and confusion they are experiencing without even understanding why. I am surprised by the intensity of my emotion.
Suddenly, I wonder: is this how God feels when I go through my pain and troubles?
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The Bible describes God as compassionate. Jesus is often said to be “full of compassion.” (BibleGateway – Keyword Search: compassion) God even says of Himself:
“Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! (Exodus 34:6b NLT)
COMPASSION is defined as feeling another’s pain and wanting to take steps to relieve their suffering. It’s from the Latin: “to suffer together.”
I’ve often viewed God as a calm, focused doctor who does what He must to help the patient without much worrying about how the patient may be feeling. I think I’ve been wrong. It seems that God “suffers with me” in those times.
Who knew?
Well, I should have.
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV
Hope. The result of knowing God’s compassion, trusting God’s compassion, living within God’s compassion.
Compassion is not something that simply runs out of God, it is something that God is.
A. W. Tozer
He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds [healing their pain and comforting their sorrow].
Psalm 147:3 Amplified Bible
