Compassionate and Gracious

The first thing we learn about God is that he’s “compassionate and gracious.”

The fact that “compassionate and gracious” is at the top of the list of Yahweh’s character traits means it’s the dominant one—the most important thing there is to know about him.

First off, “compassionate.” The Hebrew word has a root word meaning “female womb.”

The idea behind it is the feeling a mother has toward her infant child. I watch my wife, Tammy, with our three kids. If there’s so much as a single cry in the middle of the night, she’s out of bed and by their side—usually before I even wake up.

She’s compassionate.

And this is just a glimpse, a faint echo of how Yahweh feels about his kids. About you. And me.

So, “compassion,” is a feeling word.

In contrast, “gracious” is an action word. In Hebrew, it means “to show grace” or “to show favor.” It’s something you do. It's to help someone out in a time of need. It means, like a parent, God comes to the rescue when his kids need help.

These two words link up and fuse together to show us what Yahweh is like: he’s compassionate and gracious.

When we come before God, we come before a God who feels, who cares about us. And a God who acts, who wants to help, to do something about our situation.

We all love that God is compassionate and gracious with us. But what about when he’s merciful to our enemies? To people who hurt us, gossip behind our backs, lie about us to the boss, betray us, divorce us, and abandon us?

That’s the problem with this God Yahweh—he’s compassionate and gracious to everybody.

We see this all over the teachings of Jesus. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

We still can’t quite grapple with the intensity of this statement. It’s one thing not to kill our enemy, but to love them? Even Christians—in particular, American Christians—have a really hard time with Jesus’ teachings on enemy love.

As I said before, who God is has staggering implications for who we are.

God is compassionate, so we’re to be compassionate. God is gracious—we should be too.

So to wrap up:

Who are your enemies? What would it look like for you to show mercy to them? Even love them?

Start with this: forgive them.

Then pray for them. And get ready for God to answer it.

Next, who are the people you have daily opportunities to show mercy to?

Hint: they are usually the people who annoy you the most.

Every time you see them, every time they annoy you or upset you or make you mad, it’s an opportunity to be like God, to show mercy.

Don’t miss it.

Finally, do you honestly believe that God is your Father?

Do you believe this to be true in the deepest part of your being? That God is like a parent. He feels compassion for you. He’s gracious. He wants to help.

So where do you need mercy?

Where do you need grace to help in time of need?

Go to the Father. Appeal to his compassion. Ask for his grace.