God is compassionate toward me.

Application #1: God longs to show you compassion and mercy!

When you are at the bottom of the pit, you can be convinced that the God of mercy feels compassion for you. Why? Because compassion is not just something He does but is part of His character! He longs to show compassion! In the pit, be assured He compassionately looks upon you with tender mercies.

Application #2: God’s blessing is not contingent on good behavior! God will bless whomever He wants to bless!

Despite all the false theology I learned growing up— “God can’t bless you for this or that, or when you do this or that, or act this way or that way,”—it is so clear that God is sovereignly in control of whom He blesses and when He decides to bless and show mercy toward mankind. It has nothing to do with the man, but everything to do with the loving, compassionate character of God.

What a comfort to know that, though man only looks on the outside, God looks at the heart. Even that doesn’t guarantee God’s so-called blessing, but I have a guarantee of His spirit, His love, His unmerited favor and grace and that I will spend eternity with Him. I have a promise that God works all things out according to what He deems as good.

But to know that God chooses to compassionately show me mercy and to bless in circumstances according to His good pleasure is a comfort to me, knowing He is sovereignly seeking to glorify Himself. And, if showing me mercy and kindness glorifies Him in any way, even in my worst state, then obviously my actions don’t disqualify me from those extensions of His grace and mercy!

Application #3: God compassionately sees every one of our tears.

I have a very vivid memory of making a hospital visit to an elderly woman who had gone to my church for years. I could tell the moment I first entered her room that she was very weak and unable to carry on a conversation with me. So, I did the only thing I knew I could do, the thing I knew comforted me and something I felt God had gifted me to do. I sang hymns by her bedside and simply smiled and held her hand. While I sang her those hymns, she looked intently into my eyes, she closed her eyes, she smiled, and before I knew it, tears began to roll down her cheeks.

What sears into my memory about that day over 20 years ago, though, was her eyes which looked back into mine and without a word spoke, “Thank you.” The tears dripped down her cheeks as I sang “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” The smile beamed upon her face as I sang “When We All Get to Heaven, What a Day of Rejoicing That Will Be.” Those eyes! I am convinced that those eyes knew that I was there because I loved her—because I loved her and no other reason. She had nothing to offer me. It was all me doing the singing—she was barely mouthing the words. I was doing all the ministry while she just lay there. But in her weakened condition, she embraced the ministry of the Holy Spirit in her heart.

I think this is what happens when we’re willing to look into the tender eyes of Jesus and let the guilt, the shame, the dirtiness and the sinfulness that our depravity has done to us melt away. When we see His eyes of love, compassion, mercy and grace, there is something in our spirit that tells us He is there smiling at us. And in those moments, we somehow know we’re okay.

Verses To Meditate On

Psalm 40:11 (NASB): “You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me. Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.”
Isaiah 30:18 (NASB): “Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.”
James 5:11 (NASB): “We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”
Exodus 34:6–7a (NASB): “Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; Who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, Who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin...’”
Jesus Himself says in Matthew 9:12–13 (NASB): “…It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Also see: Romans 9:15-16, Psalm 103:1-4.

When we see His eyes of love, compassion, mercy and grace, there is something in our spirit that tells us He is there smiling at us. And in those moments, we somehow know we’re okay.