A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:23

Two conflicting forces cannot exist in one human heart. Where selfishness rules, there love cannot dwell.  Billy Graham

The Word of God is filled with marvelous examples of COMPASSION and wherever COMPASSION is found, the atmosphere becomes marvelously pure.  Exodus 2:6  And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.  The atmosphere leading up to the foregoing verse was filled with tension and one would never dream that the daughter of The Pharaoh would have even one ounce of compassion in her heart for her own people, let alone compassion for a Hebrew Child.  The Lord because of her compassion was able to bring about a great miracle in the life of Moses where he would grow up in Pharaoh’s Palace with the finest of education that could be offered in Egypt.  Moses’ Parents obeyed the Lord and placed their baby in the arch, as the Lord directed, then they were able to see the miraculous way in which the Lord’s great hand was outstretched in mercy to their son.

II Kings 13:22  But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.  23  And the LORD was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet. These fascinating incidents from God’s Word are always very interesting to me.  I love to see The Lord work in circumstances that seem so impossible as this picture of a heathen king who was well known as an oppressor of God’s People, but in spite of the oppressors, our Wonderful Lord changes the entire picture because of His gracious compassion.  There was absolutely nothing that the people of Israel could do without The Lord’s intervention, but The Lord came on the scene, like only He could do, and totally changed the picture because of His compassion.

Psalm 145:8  The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.  This beautiful verse from The Psalms stands out all by itself.  It is not a part of a longer story, but it speaks volumes about our wonderful Lord.  Every part of the verse is absolutely incredible.  The Lord is gracious, (kindness and warm courtesy, and compassionate) full of compassion (the deep feeling of sharing the suffering of another) slow to anger, and of great mercy (compassionate treatment of an offender or an enemy, a disposition to be kind and forgiving). There are numbers of places in God’s Word where we are urged to go and do likewise.  That can certainly be said about Psalm 145:8, each of the meanings of the message of that one verse can certainly keep us busy fulfilling what God’s Wonderful Word teaches us in just one verse.

We will conclude today by looking into I Peter 3:8  Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: 9  Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.  The Word says it all.