5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, 6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them--the LORD, who remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, 8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. 10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD.

We live in a world that has, to a large degree, lost the ability to feel compassion. Our “dog eat dog” mentality has persuaded us that we should let others fiend for themselves as we look out for only ourselves. Perhaps it is due to being so busy with our own affairs that we don’t take time to feel what others are feeling. Perhaps it is the impersonal way we live in our neighborhoods in which we don’t even know our neighbors. I talked with someone recently who told of their childhood and helping their neighbors. He said he could remember several years that the entire community would pitch in and plant crops or gather crops of a neighbor who was sick or otherwise unable to do it for himself. We almost never see that today.

Compassion requires humility. We must lower ourselves to serve others. We take what belongs to us and use it to help another. We give of our time. We feel the pain of another as if it were our own. But true compassion comes because we have the love of God in our hearts.

God is referred to as the God of all compassion. He feels our pain and knows our suffering. He understands our plight of sin and the breach this causes in our fellowship with him. It is his love that sent his unique Son to die for us. It is his compassion that caused Jesus to humble himself and to come to this earth to live as a man and suffer death on the cross for our sin. Praise the Lord that his compassion extends to each of us in our lives today.

O God, I thank you for your compassion that is motivated because of your great love for me. I am so often torn between my selfish attitude and helping others. Please forgive me and give me strength to humble myself to serve and to give of myself. Use me in your service to share the gospel with others so they can come to know you, know your Son and the peace of forgiveness in their hearts. Open my heart so that your Spirit will have free course to change me to be more like you and move me to do your will. Give me a loving and compassionate heart toward others. I pray in Christ’s name.

May God bless each of us as we open our hearts to his love.