Moved With Compassion

God spoke a timeless truth to prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7, that God does not see as man sees.  Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart.  The most discerning people cannot know exactly the motivations and feelings in the hearts of others, and we cannot even plumb the depths of our own hearts.  After being born again there are aspects of my flesh and tendencies of my character which the Bible has illuminated and the Holy Spirit has convicted me as sinful, and praise the LORD He is able to purify and transform us from within.  In my life God has purposed to refine and transform parts of my life I never had a problem with, and as we embrace our sanctification this is a continual process God's people can rejoice to submit to.

I was recently both convicted and blessed by how different the observations of Jesus are from my natural perspective when I read Matthew 9:35-38:  "Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. ³⁶ But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. ³⁷ Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ³⁸ Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."  Because Jesus is good, loving and God, there is hope for everyone by His grace.  Jesus went all throughout Israel teaching, preaching and healing all the people who came to Him.  Jesus was not put off by their heresies, sinful practices, sickness or weakness.  After being completely spent day after day serving everyone, Jesus did not grow weary of doing good for unworthy and often ungrateful people.  We see multitudes and think, "Oh no, what now?" but Jesus was moved with compassion for them.

When Jesus saw crowds of people, He saw people who were weary and scattered, and they resembled sheep without a shepherd.  I like the NIV rendering of this which describes the multitudes as "harassed and helpless."  Instead of seeing people as rabble rousers (which they can certainly be), Jesus knew they were harassed and troubled by many things physically, socially and spiritually.  They were scattered and helpless like sheep are to deliver themselves from their many specific health ailments, parasites, bullying of the flock and their own skittish, fearful nature.  The Jews in the synagogues did not receive salvation by dead works or spiritual guidance only Jesus Christ provides being the Way, the Truth and the Life, and thus they were troubled by sin and lacked peace with God.  Without a shepherd, sheep can be weighed down by wool, without protection from theft or predators, and unable to thrive without rest.  I likely would have seen the Pharisees as arrogant hypocrites without compassion, but Jesus was moved by compassion to help them and everyone else.  Aren't we blessed to have Jesus Christ as our Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep out of love for us?

Moved by compassion for the harassed and helpless, Jesus directed His disciples to pray the LORD of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd who does everything, yet more labourers are needed with His love, compassion and grace to toil in His bountiful harvest.  A blind person does not perceive all they cannot see, and no sensible person faults them for what they cannot see.  From the cross Jesus prayed for people who did not realise their sin for His Father to forgive them, for they knew not what they were doing.  The compassion of Jesus, His love in action and practical affection towards the weary and scattered ought to move us to seek to demonstrate His compassion to all.  Let us pray the LORD would send labourers into His harvest, rejoicing to be an answer to Christ's prayer request (and our own prayers) to labour ourselves for His glory and the good of others.

The God of Jacob

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! ¹¹ The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah"

Psalm 46:10-11

Through the psalmist the LORD addresses the reader of His word with a command, to be still and know that He is God who will be exalted!  As much as we like to multitask, our capacity to focus on several things at once reduces our ability to pay full attention.  Being still also does not guarantee our focus on the LORD, for we are easily distracted and ideas flood into our brains without invitation.  When Jesus spoke to the raging waves of Galilee saying, "Peace, be still!" it is almost a taller order to still us because we have our own will we must submit before the LORD in faith and obedience.  God is able to still us, but He desires our willing cooperation.

Since God will be exalted among the nations and earth, how fitting it is for His people to exalt Him with praise, thanksgiving and adoration.  How blessed we are to know the LORD of hosts and that He is with us, and the God of Jacob is our refuge.  In considering these verses throughout the day, it proved beneficial to consider the many things God did for Jacob.  God knew Jacob, that though he was younger than Esau he would receive his father's birthright and blessing.  The LORD preserved Jacob, despite his deceitful ways, delivered him from the murderous intentions of Esau, saved him from the schemes of Laban and the dramas of having wives and many children.  God revealed Himself to Jacob, blessed him and protected his family when his sons stirred up trouble.

God made amazing promises to Jacob He was faithful to fulfill--even in the midst of a foreign land and a severe famine.  Genesis 46:3-4 says, "So He said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. ⁴ I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes."  Because God was with Jacob, he did not need to fear anything or what seemed an uncertain future.  Before Jacob's decease, Genesis 48:3-4 states:  "Then Jacob said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴ and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.'"  God spoke to Jacob, blessed him, made him fruitful, gave him a new name and an everlasting possession--all things Jesus will do for all who believe in Him.

Because God has revealed Himself to us, we can be still and know He is God.  It is in Jesus Christ we find rest for our souls, perfect peace, fulness of joy and spiritual fruitfulness.  The LORD of the hosts of heaven is with us, and He has promised never to leave or forsake us.  The God of Jacob is our refuge, and considering how God protected, provided for and blessed Jacob we see foreshadowing of the sure hope we have in Christ.  Our days on earth may be few and evil--and we may never attain to the level of our fathers--but like Jacob we can testify God has been good to us and with us all the way.  May God's people know the LORD Jesus, seek refuge in Him and exalt Him now and forever.

Parents and Taking Initiative

There are things in life nothing can really prepare us for:  you must experience them personally to learn more about yourself and grow in maturity.  It is good to undergo Christian premarital counselling, discuss expectations and plan for the future, but it is a massive difference between talking about marriage to being married.  The same could be said for having children.  A couple can go to classes in preparation for the birth of their first child, furnish a nursery, buy a car seat and read books.  But there is nothing like driving home with a new human being in the car with the sober responsibility to protect, provide for and nourish your own baby at every hour day and night.

One thing I have learned as a parent is the need to keep making necessary adjustments in every season as my children have grown into adulthood.  Young parents hear about the "terrible twos" and the rocky teenage years, but I do not recall those living up to the negative hype.  What I have found the most challenging is how to manage the young adult season, to learn by trial and error the tension between encouraging and supporting them or falling back into the habit of doing things for them.  A lot of parents, me included, at times can hinder the growth of character by catering to them and thus denying them valuable life lessons only learned by struggle and failure.

When I was an apprentice, the approach to training workers was three-fold:  curriculum that taught us about mechanical systems, hands-on practice in a classroom environment, and working full-time in the field on jobsites.  Reading books, answering questions or drawing patterns in a classroom was no substitute for being on a real job under the guidance of a foreman.  This is a good thing for parents to remember, that watching mum or dad bake or ice a cake, use the BBQ or smoker, mow the lawn or wash the car is not the same thing as them doing the job from start to finish without being constantly told what to do or pushed aside.  Mistakes will be made, but lessons will also be learned.  This means jobs will take longer and may not be done to the standard we hold ourselves to, but it means one day your child may outshine you at the task.  Knowledge of a job process and responsibility to do it suddenly provides awareness and empowers us to do meaningful work.

Just the other day my son and I changed the inlet valve on a toilet.  Rather than my usual "doing it all by myself" approach, I walked him through the job he did pretty much by himself.  I explained the basic function of the main parts in a toilet cistern and what to look and listen for.  It was not a day or two later when I reaped rewards of this approach to household maintenance, for he pointed out an outlet value of a urinal was leaking at church.  This is one benefit of allowing others to learn under your watch, that their eyes and ears will be opened to put their knowledge to work.  Taking the initiative to clean, maintain and fix things is directly tied to knowledge of how to do tasks and what is needed to complete them.  If you find yourself as a parent frustrated or appalled at your child's lack of initiative, they may need some encouragement through on the job training.  Don't just show them what to do, but let them try their hand at it as you do as little as possible.  It will take longer and will be more work for you, yet it will be better for everyone in the end--including the next generation yet to be born!

Taking the Bible Personally

Personal application is a step we don't always take in reading the Bible.  We can observe what a Bible passage says, understand what it means, but never make it personal and consider how God's timeless truth ought to impact our present perspective on what we are going through.  Too often the wisdom of the Bible rattles around in our heads without ever reaching our hearts.  We have been apprised of facts that never wielded the transformational power God intends to impact our lives with because we are unbelieving or unwilling to receive God's word ourselves.

On Good Friday at Calvary Chapel Sydney, one of the passages we considered is found in Psalm 34:17-20:  "The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. ¹⁸ The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. ¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. ²⁰ He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken."  The apostle John cites this passage from the Psalms in relation to Jesus Christ fulfilling it in His death, thus identifying Him as the righteous Messiah:  the body of Jesus was broken but every one of His bones were preserved intact.  Unlike the other men crucified on either side of Him, the legs of Jesus were not broken because He was already dead.  His decease was confirmed when a Roman soldier pierced His side, and this fulfilled another prophecy in Zechariah 12:10.

It is good that we take personally the fact we are sinners and God has provided atonement through the shed blood of Jesus Christ who forgives and grants eternal life to all who trust in Him.  For all those born again by the Gospel, Jesus is righteousness for us.  The aforementioned verses from Psalm 34 suddenly hit differently as Christians because of all Christ accomplished on Calvary.  These verses can now be taken personally as promises by God's grace.  Every Christian can know, based on the unchanging truth of God's word, when we cry out to the LORD He hears and delivers us out of all our troubles.  God is near and saves us when we humble ourselves, and the LORD delivers us out of all of our afflictions.

As Jesus lay dead in a grave behind a massive stone, there was no tangible evidence Jesus was going to rise from the dead--unless one hearkened back to what the prophets and Jesus previously said to His disciples as His hour approached.  In the same way, it may seem like deliverance from troubles and afflictions is never going to come for us.  There may be no hint based on our circumstances anything could possibly change.  Yet as sure as Jesus rose from the grave and defeated death, we can know God hears, delivers and saves us of all our afflictions.  Faith in God causes us to cling to Him, for the word of God stands sure forever.  Taking the Bible personally prompts us to answer questions:  am I troubled today?  Have I cried out to God for deliverance?  Do I believe God is near and will save me out of all my afflictions?

Blessed are those made righteous in Christ who take to heart God's word, trusting the LORD to fulfill all His promises in due time--as sure as Jesus rose from the dead and lives.