Welcome!
Last time we talked about the fact that God is Love. He loves you with Agape, which is a conscious, unchanging choice to love you no matter what. Today I want to tell you about more of God’s character; specifically that He is gracious and compassionate. Psalm 145:8, 9 says, “The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” (NIV). Another version of the Bible says, “The LORD is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all His works” (KJV).
Gracious and Compassionate
Think about those words for a moment, gracious and compassionate.
Now, think about your life for a moment. Do you know anyone you would describe as gracious and compassionate?
In the English language, the word “gracious” describes someone who is kind, polite, tactful, and generous. Being around a gracious person always makes me feel good. I go home with a warm feeling and the thought, “They’re so nice!”
When we say someone is compassionate, we mean he/she is a caring person who wants to help others out of difficult situations. I think of nurses or missionaries when I think of compassionate people.
Favor and Yearning
The Hebrew words for gracious and compassionate in Psalm 145 have different meanings than they do in English. Gracious, like the word grace, refers to the unmerited favor of God. The favor that we don’t deserve, but He gives it to us anyway. No one else in the Bible is described with this same word, gracious. It is only used to describe God.
Compassionate, or being “full of compassion,” is the desire to help those who are in need, but it is more than that. The compassion God feels for you is the deep, tender, gut-wrenching yearning you feel for your child or spouse when they are in pain and you want to rescue them.
What this means is, our gracious God has given us His favor and wants to act on our behalf. Our compassionate God yearns to help us in our struggles. We are part of the “all” He is good to and has compassion on. But there’s more…
The Best Part
When we talked about the Sameness of God, I mentioned that the Bible says some of the same things over and over. “The LORD is gracious and compassionate” is one of those things we find more than once. The first time we read those words, God is speaking them to Moses. God Himself passes by Moses on Mount Sinai and declares, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6).
God used those words to describe Himself. He wanted to make sure we would know about this part of His character.
If you ever wonder how God feels about you, be assured that He is gracious and compassionate toward you. He’s not mad at you. He has given you His favor and He yearns to help you. All you have to do is ask (John 15:7).
The Main Point
God is gracious and compassionate toward us. So we will not doubt grace and compassion are a part of His character, He told us Himself that they are. He does not reserve His grace and compassion for a few people, but He is “good to all.”
For the next several days, ponder Psalm 145:8, 9. Repeat the verses to yourself. Remind yourself that they apply to you. God is gracious and compassionate toward you. Learn to relax in His grace, compassion, and goodness.
How has God shown you His grace and compassion? Leave a comment below!