Isaiah 33:13-16 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹³ Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
¹⁵ He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
¹⁶ he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.

Philippians 3:9 English Standard Version (ESV) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

Marry the Old Testament with the New Testament and we find ourselves to be the Bride of Christ. Our Father in heaven looks upon us as His betrothed. Our right standing before God is only because of who has betrothed Himself to us. We have said yes to this marriage. Now we wait upon the wedding feast.

Exodus 21:9 King James Version (KJV) And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

God would never ask of us anything that He would not perform Himself. We are betrothed to His Son and He deals with us as His own.

Galatians 4:6 English Standard Version (ESV) And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

We can stand before God without fear because He is in us, our righteousness is in Christ.

Matthew 14:14 English Standard Version (ESV) When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

The more involved we get in people’s lives the more we see pain and suffering. It can get to be too much. Thanks be unto God that we have a savior who has the power to heal. So we pray.

Seems like it isn’t enough and we want to do more but the power resides in God not us. If it were up to us we would lay hands on all we care about and heal them. Even as I write this the Holy Spirit is convicting me of my own words. “All we care about.”

God loves all mankind and not just those who touch our lives. We often forget about salvation of the lost when faced with the pain and suffering of those that have touch our lives. We do not know who is watching on the edges of these lives that need to find Jesus more than anything else. God does and how we react to the suffering of others can be a great witness to faith in Christ.

It begins with turning to the one who has compassion for everyone and not just the ones we love. We tend to focus on the ones we love and those on the fringe of suffering tend to get left out. That isn’t God’s will. He would that all mankind hear of His great love.

The love of God abides in our hearts. It is His will that we open up our hearts and let His love out. Compassion in the face of overwhelming pain and suffering is not easy and we cannot do it ourselves. We have to get God involved.

It begins with prayer.