There are many qualities that describe God and Jesus Christ. They are all powerful as is shown by their creation of all things. They are also just and wise, and they both can be totally relied upon to keep their word or promises.
However, there is one word that is of great comfort to us, and that is that they are both filled with compassion.
So, what is compassion? It is certainly more than sympathy. One dictionary defines it as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” It certainly includes sympathy but it includes wanting to do something about the difficulty that the other is suffering.
A good example of Jesus showing compassion was when a great multitude followed Him for three days during which time He healed many. He knew they were hungry and said: “I have compassion on the multitude because they have continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.” He had sympathy toward them. But then He added, “And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
He had a great desire to alleviate their suffering, so this is the time He blessed the loaves and fish and fed four thousand men plus women and children. He saw their suffering and alleviated it. He had the power to do this but also the desire. He had the characteristic of being compassionate.
There is a good example of God’s compassion in an unlikely book, the Book of Lamentations. It was written by Jeremiah and describes Judah’s punishment for their disobedience. But even in this time of great suffering, God gave hope. Lamentations 3:16-20 reads: “He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes. You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity. And I said, ‘My strength and my hope have perished from the LORD.’ Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers And sinks within me.” A real tale of woe, everything appeared to Jeremiah to be going wrong.
But then, when he thought of God’s characteristics, we read in verses 21-25: “This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed. Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him.’ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.”
Continuing on in verses 31-33: “For the Lord will not cast off forever, Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.”
God did not afflict the people of Judah because He wanted to or because it gave Him pleasure. He did not desire to give them affliction but continually wanted to bless them, hoping they would repent so He could bless them. He saw their suffering and wanted to alleviate it as we saw in the definition of compassion, but they refused.
Both God and Jesus Christ are full of compassion. In fact, they are so full of compassion that we read in Isaiah that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. They knew that when Jesus was beaten and died, we could have our sicknesses put on Christ’s shoulders and we could have our death penalty alleviated because of the death of Jesus. They were both willing to suffer so that we would not have to suffer eternal death.
In the books of Exodus and Leviticus, there are many mentions of the furnishings in the tabernacle and we read that when God spoke to Moses directly from His throne, He spoke from above the mercy seat. Even the name “mercy seat” shows us that God wants to show us compassion.
The tables of the Law were in the ark of the covenant under the mercy seat, so obedience is required, but we read in James that mercy triumphs over judgement.
We see that God is full of compassion and mercy. They are all throughout His Word. He applies them in wisdom and with understanding but still gives them freely to us. So, if we are to be like God, we also must be willing to show compassion and mercy to others. We must sympathize with them and desire to alleviate their problems if we are able. After all, we are living in this life to build the character of God, and compassion is a very great part of that character.