6^th July

“When the Lord saw her, His heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” He said.”

Luke 7:13

Her tears blurred her vision. While we do not know if she saw Jesus, she did not reach out to Him: her son was dead and needed life. She knew Jesus was a healer but what could He do for her? In the midst of her grief, Jesus saw her and He had compassion. Instead of skipping to the happy end of this story, let’s stop here: Jesus had compassion. It is interesting to note that even in the midst of our sorrow, struggles and grief, Jesus is there, even if we don’t cry out to Him, He sees our tears and hears our cries, just like he did with this widowed woman.

Compassion, is a simple phrase that is found throughout each of the four Gospels. It was an integral part of Jesus’ character. Compassion saw him reach out to a widow who had just lost her only son and compassion is what sees Jesus reach out to us. The life-changing truth is that Jesus is good and He encourages us to ask Him for help. He never ran from disease, death, or wretchedness. While we may not understand why certain prayers are answered quickly while others hang painfully in the air, we can be assured that He sees us and cares. ¹ He has compassion to come to our aid when we need Him and to be an ever present source of strength in our moments of weakness.