The Compassion Hymn

There is an everlasting kindness
You lavished on us
When the Radiance of heaven Came to rescue the lost;
You called the sheep without a shepherd
To leave their distress
For your streams of forgiveness
And the shade of Your rest.

And with compassion for the hurting,
You reached out Your hand
As the lame ran to meet You
And the dead breathed again
You saw behind the eyes of sorrow
And shared in our tears
Heard the sigh of the weary
Let the children draw near

What boundless love, what fathomless grace
You have shown us, O God of compassion
Each day we live an offering of praise
As we show to the world Your compassion

We stood beneath the cross of Calvary
And gazed on Your face
At the thorns of oppression
And the wounds of disgrace
For surely You have borne our suffering
And carried our grief
As You pardoned the scoffer
And showed grace to the thief

How beautiful the feet that carry
This gospel of peace
To the fields of injustice
And the valleys of need
To be a voice of hope and healing
To answer the cries
Of the hungry and helpless
With the mercy of Christ.

Keith and Kristyn Getty
written along with Stuart Townend

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The meaning of compassion is to recognize the suffering of others,
then take action to help.
-from the mission statement of Compassion International

“If you would sum up the whole character of Christ in reference to ourselves,
it might be gathered into this one sentence:
He was moved with compassion.”
– Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The Strong’s Concordance defines compassion in this way:

• to have compassion
• to have the bowels yearn, i.e., (figuratively) feel sympathy, to pity
• have (be moved with) compassion

How about you…when you hear the word, compassion, what does it make you think of?  Surely amongst the first things that spring to mind would be how very compassionate is our loving Heavenly Father.  The Scriptures tell us in many places about His compassion toward mankind.  In fact, as part of a word study in the Bible on this attribute of God’s nature—compassion—I found (literally) over 125 individual Scriptures that talk about God’s compassion…His being compassionate and His having compassion.

Compassion is a defining characteristic of Who Almighty God is!  For example, in this record (Nehemiah 9), God’s compassion is spoken of seven separate times.

But You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;
And You did not forsake them.
Nehemiah 9:17

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate.
Psalm 116:5

The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.
Psalm 145:9

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.
Isaiah 30:18

But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation:
It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed
because His [tender] compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self);
therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.
The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him,
to those who seek Him. It is good that one should hope in and wait
quietly for the salvation (the safety and ease) of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:21-26

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And, to be assured, there is record after record after record in the Gospel accounts of Jesus and the loving compassion He had for those around Him.

Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him,
and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
Mark 1:41

When he went ashore He saw a great crowd,
and He had compassion on them,
because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
And He began to teach them many things.
Mark 6:34

And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
Luke 7:13

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We, too, are to live the same.  As the words of this beautiful hymn express, “Each day we live an offering of praise as we show to the world Your compassion.”

Be kind and compassionate to one another,
forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience….
Colossians 3:12

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic,
love one another, be compassionate and humble.
1 Peter 3:8

But if anyone has this world’s goods
and sees his brother and fellow believer in need,
yet closes his heart of compassion against him,
how can the love of God live and remain in him?
1 John 3:17

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May we each today reach out to those around us…our loved ones, strangers, the untouchable, the harsh and critical, those who persecute us, those who do not understand us, the hurting, and the hurters…with this compassion that is ours to freely give by God’s grace.  May we be Christ’s love to them…and show them the love, grace, mercy, compassion, forgiveness given at the Cross.