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- Oct 26, 2007
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- 12,539
Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel's misery no longer. Judges 10:16 NIV
Every time God’s people experienced misery that came from following their own hearts, God felt the agony. This is because He reveals Himself as the God who feels.
Luke wrote that when Jesus approached Jerusalem, He knew its afflictions and sorrows and wept over it (19:41).
The psalmist appeals to this same compassion in God when he cries out, “Do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever” (Psalm 74:19 NIV).
Are you like God in your compassion? Do you feel the misery of the people around you? Have you wept over your family and friends? God does.
When a believer strays from the faith and suffers from the resulting misery, you can speak—through his denial or shame-spawned façade—with words that communicate your willingness to listen with sympathy.
When people you love share their deepest sorrows, you can openly weep like Jesus.
When a coworker loses a loved one, you can put the date in your calendar and remember to send a card each year on the anniversary.
You can minister to a world full of hurting people when you pattern your life after the God who feels.
Prayer: Lord, help me learn from Your example how to become a man who feels deeply about the people around me, and help me to respond to these feelings with activities that show I have not forgotten people’s afflictions.
Every time God’s people experienced misery that came from following their own hearts, God felt the agony. This is because He reveals Himself as the God who feels.
Luke wrote that when Jesus approached Jerusalem, He knew its afflictions and sorrows and wept over it (19:41).
The psalmist appeals to this same compassion in God when he cries out, “Do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever” (Psalm 74:19 NIV).
Are you like God in your compassion? Do you feel the misery of the people around you? Have you wept over your family and friends? God does.
When a believer strays from the faith and suffers from the resulting misery, you can speak—through his denial or shame-spawned façade—with words that communicate your willingness to listen with sympathy.
When people you love share their deepest sorrows, you can openly weep like Jesus.
When a coworker loses a loved one, you can put the date in your calendar and remember to send a card each year on the anniversary.
You can minister to a world full of hurting people when you pattern your life after the God who feels.
Prayer: Lord, help me learn from Your example how to become a man who feels deeply about the people around me, and help me to respond to these feelings with activities that show I have not forgotten people’s afflictions.