Submitted
by David Miller
Jesus was having what we, in the natural, would call a ‘bad
day’. He had just received the news that the person who most understood him,
his cousin, the prophet John the Baptist, had been unjustly murdered to fulfill
a shallow promise by a lustful king. Jesus,
though he was God, was also human, with human emotions. When he received this
tragic news he just wanted to get away from it all. Matthew tells us: Now when Jesus heard about
John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself… (Matthew 14:13*a, NASB)
We’ve all been in that place where the cares of this world come
over us like a tidal wave and all we want to do is to get away and be alone
with God. But the people would not let
him have this time of mourning. Matthew also tells us that, “…when the people heard of
this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. (Matthew 14:13*b,
NASB)”
Jesus could have sent Peter or James out to tell the masses that
he was taking the day off. He could have asked John to let the congregation
know that he was ‘indisposed’. But the Bible tells us how Jesus responded. Look at the next verse. “When He went ashore, He
saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14:14*, NASB)”
Earlier Jesus revealed the heart of God to his disciples when he
told them, “It is not
those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and
learn what this means: 'I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,' for I did not
come to call the righteous, but sinners. (Matthew 9:12*,
NASB)
Jesus made it clear that not only does God have compassion on
sinners, but He desires that we have that same compassion. He wants to turn our
hearts of stone as a result of hurts, betrayal, cynicism, or selfishness into
hearts of flesh that long to love God and make His love known to the world …
even when we’re having a ‘bad day’.
Today, as we go through our day, let’s take some time to ask
that God would give us a heart of compassion for the lost. Let’s pray that
through this heart of compassion we would be moved to become a part of what God
is doing to take the gospel to hurting people around the world.
Pray that God’s love would be loosed in our hearts and that we
would be moved with compassion, just as Jesus was, for sinners in need of a
Savior. This is the heart of God. By His
grace, may it also be our heart.
For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the
afflicted also, and him who has no helper. He will have compassion on the poor
and needy, and the lives of the needy he will save. (Psalms 72:12-13*, NASB)
