There is a rich and glorious seam to be mined again and again and that is encountering and recalling the wonder of God’s heart of compassion. It truly refreshes the weary soul to behold once again or perhaps for the first time this reality that there is a God, whose heart holds a reservoir of compassion so vast it cannot be measured.
Let us visit the beauty of this divine compassion today, seen again and again in God’s word, for such meditation will soften our hearts to God once again and precipitate falling in love afresh with him for who he is and what he has done. To do this we are visiting an encounter Jesus had with a leper in Matthew 8:1-4.
Jesus after finishing preaching the sermon on the mount was confronted by a leper who had probably been hearing the sermon from a distance. As a social outcast considered unclean in Jewish society and used to isolation, the leper felt he could nonetheless approach Jesus and asked him “Lord if you are willing, make me clean? To show that the compassion of God runs so deep, Jesus, instead of turning him away stretched out his hand and touched him proclaiming such beautiful words, “I am willing, be cleansed.”
The fact that Jesus reached out to touch him was an act of love in itself as the leper would have been starved of human contact and affection due to the rules governing Jewish society that forbade contact and especially as leprosy was contagious. Jesus then says those words that perhaps the leper had never believed possible, “I am willing” followed by “be cleansed.” Hope for this leper may have been dismissed by the society in which he lived as non-existent, but in meeting Jesus, the leper encountered the healing compassion of God in Christ that works in impossible situations. Jesus in saying “i am willing” demonstrated the Father’s love for this leper and that he mattered and was valued by God. His command as he touched the leper to “be cleansed” brought healing from a disease that had labelled him ‘unclean.’ Jesus was not only healing him of this disease which was an amazing miracle in itself but Jesus was changing the label he had been associated with by declaring him cleansed. Jesus’ actions demonstrate that God’s compassion not only works in the impossible but that it is real, active and works powerfully in those who come to him.
“Whoever comes to me”, Jesus proclaimed, “I will never drive away” (John 6:37). As the manifestation of Father God to humanity this is the position of God’s heart towards you.
Does your heart not melt within you as you see the striking brightness of the compassion that is abundantly found in our God. This is the reason that the Bible uses the term “lavish” to describe God’s love and grace (Ephesians 1: 7-8; 1 John 3:1). It is the outward expression of the enormous storehouse that is His compassionate heart.
Take time today to meditate on His beauty and call to mind the many ways you have encountered the compassionate heart of the Lord in your life. It will refresh and revive your soul.
Abba's Dearly Beloved 