The Key to Survival Is...
"Now therefore, our God, the great God, mighty and awesome, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes..." Nehemiah 9:32
Compassion. This word is used to describe God countless times in Scripture. Often we view God either as mighty or as compassionate. We feel the two are incompatible. Often as parents, spouses, bosses, friends, leaders, we feel this way as well. Either I have to be strong or I have to be loving and compassionate. I cannot be both. And yet being both is essential to the nature of God and to the reflection of his image in humans. How often do our hearts cry out, "do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes"? When we are in pain, we want to know, "do you understand, do you see, do you feel what I feel?" We whisper this prayer both to God and to our loved ones. Our greatest desire is to see our own pain reflected in the eyes of those we love. Why? Why does this matter? We should just be able to deal with pain on our own regardless of how others feel, right?
Nehemiah knew that unless God felt the pain of His people, they were lost. Yes, God is mighty and awesome. But does He care? Does He understand? Does their pain matter to Him? This is where we realize that if He does not see, if it does not matter, we cannot know that He will respond, and we are on our own. There is NOTHING more terrifying. At our very core we know that the key to our survival is that those we depend upon see our pain and are moved by it. When God saw the pain of His people, what did He do? He was "moved by compassion" and rescued them, destroyed armies, sent plagues upon their enemies, split seas, forgave, brought them close again. It is easy to say to ourselves or to others, "You should just be ok on your own". The image of God inside of us cries out, "You are not ok on your own." The very nature of the Trinity is to feel the heart and know the mind of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We long for that too.
So next time you are angry that someone does not understand, desperate because someone does not seem to care you are hurting, hurt because your pain seems "trifling" to those you rely on, know that this is the image of God inside of you crying out. What we do with the pain is another story, but the pain itself is just letting us know that we need God and others to be "moved with compassion." Our hearts are saying, "Are you there for me? I cannot do this alone."
Nehemiah 9 tells the story over and over again of how the Israelites turned their backs on God, experienced oppression and pain, then cried out to Him. Every time God responded with compassion, was "moved" to rescue them and to restore relationship, and through it all He never abandoned them. We need both God's strength and compassion. We need both each others' strength and compassion. Let us try to understand and feel the pain of those we love, so that we can be moved to love them well in our strength. What a beautiful reflection of the image of God in us.
Compassion. This word is used to describe God countless times in Scripture. Often we view God either as mighty or as compassionate. We feel the two are incompatible. Often as parents, spouses, bosses, friends, leaders, we feel this way as well. Either I have to be strong or I have to be loving and compassionate. I cannot be both. And yet being both is essential to the nature of God and to the reflection of his image in humans. How often do our hearts cry out, "do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes"? When we are in pain, we want to know, "do you understand, do you see, do you feel what I feel?" We whisper this prayer both to God and to our loved ones. Our greatest desire is to see our own pain reflected in the eyes of those we love. Why? Why does this matter? We should just be able to deal with pain on our own regardless of how others feel, right?
Nehemiah knew that unless God felt the pain of His people, they were lost. Yes, God is mighty and awesome. But does He care? Does He understand? Does their pain matter to Him? This is where we realize that if He does not see, if it does not matter, we cannot know that He will respond, and we are on our own. There is NOTHING more terrifying. At our very core we know that the key to our survival is that those we depend upon see our pain and are moved by it. When God saw the pain of His people, what did He do? He was "moved by compassion" and rescued them, destroyed armies, sent plagues upon their enemies, split seas, forgave, brought them close again. It is easy to say to ourselves or to others, "You should just be ok on your own". The image of God inside of us cries out, "You are not ok on your own." The very nature of the Trinity is to feel the heart and know the mind of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We long for that too.
So next time you are angry that someone does not understand, desperate because someone does not seem to care you are hurting, hurt because your pain seems "trifling" to those you rely on, know that this is the image of God inside of you crying out. What we do with the pain is another story, but the pain itself is just letting us know that we need God and others to be "moved with compassion." Our hearts are saying, "Are you there for me? I cannot do this alone."
Nehemiah 9 tells the story over and over again of how the Israelites turned their backs on God, experienced oppression and pain, then cried out to Him. Every time God responded with compassion, was "moved" to rescue them and to restore relationship, and through it all He never abandoned them. We need both God's strength and compassion. We need both each others' strength and compassion. Let us try to understand and feel the pain of those we love, so that we can be moved to love them well in our strength. What a beautiful reflection of the image of God in us.
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