The Roots of Empathy (Oct 30)

Verses for the day

Lam 3:20-23 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Thoughts

This has been a season of grieving for me for sure. But, just as the Jeremiah says in Lam 3:20, I don’t want to forget this time, and the lessons God has been teaching me. It has been hard. But, I am better for it.

A couple years ago, after receiving difficult feedback regarding how people felt leaving our program, I have done a lot of soul searching and asked the Father to help me be more emphatic. I have read books, I have listened to podcasts, I have really tried to grow in that area. But, all the books and sermons and podcasts haven’t taught me near what God is teaching me through this difficulty.

As Jeremiah opens the book of Lamentations, he looks back at what has happened and grieves!

Lam 1:1-2 Jerusalem, once so full of people, is now deserted. She who was once great among the nations now sits alone like a widow. Once the queen of all the earth, she is now a slave. She sobs through the night; tears stream down her cheeks. Among all her lovers, there is no one left to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her and become her enemies.

In Jeremiah 52 he describes the fall Israel. The people of Israel have been taken captive and marched off to Babylon! Jerusalem is decimated and the Temple destroyed! God’s judgment has finally come.

In the midst of that great loss, Jeremiah writes this book. The hardship is not over. They are captives to a foreign nation. Their country, city and whole religious system has been decimated. And yet, what does Jeremiah say?

Lam 3:22-26 The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD.

Great is his faithfulness, even when you can’t see the end of trouble. His mercy is fresh every morning, even if you wake up captive by the enemy. The Lord is still good to those who depend on Him!

This morning as I read these words I had to struggle to fight back tears, and even as I write I am struggling to not cry! He is still good! His mercy is still fresh every morning. His grace provides what I need for each day! Great is His faithfulness.

2 Cor 1:3-4 All praise to our Father, the Father of our Lord. He is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort our Father has given us.

As I struggled holding on to my emotions this morning, I realized this is the source of empathy. To understand a person’s hurt, and to remember my hurt, not to compare my hardship with theirs, or even to tell them, “I know what you’re going through,” because everyone feels their situation is unique. But to come along side and say, “I know that feeling. I have felt it too. And it’s hard. What you are going through is just hard.” But, great is His faithfulness… Lam 3:31-33 “For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love. For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.” Nothing happens without the Lord’s permission.” (Lam 3:37)

As I was meditating on that, I also read today’s devotional from Miles Stanford, and it made me start to cry again.

10-30. Personal Poverty
“For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1 Pet. 2:25).

It is during the time of our being broken that we learn that His promises concerning us cannot be broken.
“It is more than comforting to realize that it is those who have plumbed the depths of failure to whom the Father invariably gives the call to shepherd others. This is not a call to the gifted, the highly trained, or the polished as such. Without a bitter realization of their own inadequacy and poverty they are quite unfitted to bear the burdens of spiritual ministry.

“It takes a man who has discovered something of the measure of his own weakness to be patient with the foibles of others. Such a man also has a firsthand knowledge of the loving care of the Chief Shepherd, and His ability to heal one who has come humbly to trust Him and Him alone. Therefore he does not easily despair of others, but looks beyond sinfulness, willfulness, and stupidity, to the might of unchanging love. The Lord Jesus does not give the charge, ‘Be a shepherd to My lambs. . . to My sheep,’ on hearing Peter’s self-confident affirmation of undying loyalty, but He gives it after he has utterly failed to keep his vows, and has wept bitterly in the streets of Jerusalem.” -J.C.M.

“As to Simon Peter, we not only see him restored to the work to which he was called at the first, but to something even higher. ‘Feed My lambs—shepherd My sheep’—is the new commission given to the man who had denied his Lord with an oath. ‘When thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren.’ There is nothing in all this world nearer and dearer to the heart of the Lord Jesus than His sheep, His lambs: and hence He could not have given Peter a more affecting proof of His confidence than by committing to his care the dearest objects of His deep and tender love.” -C.H.M.

I can honestly say, until my mom died, and everything that has happened after that, I had never experienced this.

Prayer

Oh Father, may we never forget the lessons in the pain. In the midst may we remember your faithfulness and be seeking your mercy which you promise is new every morning. In the midst, may we never forget that you are always good! That your plans for us are good! That you are in the process of making us better, more holy, more like you. May you help us to rest in the midst of the storm.

Father as we look back, or even in the midst, as we experience your comfort, may you use our experience of your comfort to help us to minister to others in the same loving and gracious way that you minister to us.