I first confessed Christ as my Lord almost 49 years ago. That is close to half a century of getting to know my Creator. It’s a lot of life, a lot of joy and a lot of challenges faced. One thing I have discovered is His overwhelming compassionate heart.

Author Henri Nouwen writes it this way, “The truly good news is that God is not a distant God, a God to be feared and avoided, a God of revenge, but a God who is moved by our pains and participates in the fullness of the human struggle…. God is a compassionate God. This means, first of all, that God is a God who has chosen to be God-with-us…. As soon as we call God ‘God-with-us,’ we enter into a new relationship of intimacy with him. By calling God Emmanuel, we recognize God’s commitment to live in solidarity with us, to share our joys and pains, to defend and protect us, and to suffer all of life with us. The God-with-us is a close God, a God whom we call our refuge, out stronghold, our wisdom, and even, more intimately, our helper, our shepherd, our love. We will never really know God as a compassionate God if we do not understand with our heart and mind that ‘the Word became flesh and lived among us.’” (John1:14)

No matter what you find yourself facing today and tomorrow, know that the God you serve is a God of compassion. He lived among us to identify with our sufferings, but He suffered in greater measure. Isaiah 53 tells us He knows suffering, pain and sorrow. He was wounded for our sorrows and placed on a cross for us. He died so that we might live and know His compassion toward us. It is never ending and it will see us into eternity with Him.