I Will Trust In God

I Will Trust in God’s Purpose and Power (Exodus 3:4-8a, 19-21; 4:10-12, 27-31) God’s sees (Heb. ra'ah), hears (Heb. shama) and feels/knows/understands (Heb. yada) our affliction/need (Heb. oniy) and pain/sorrow (Heb. mak'ob) and God has both the will/desire and the power (Rom. 4:17 & 21, Eph. 6:10, Jer. 32:17) /mighty (Heb. chazaq) hand (Exodus 3:20) to rescue us (Gen. 29:32; Exodus 2:24-25; 3:7-8; 22:23; 6:6; 1 Sam. 9:16; Ps. 12:5; 22:4, 5 & 24; 34:4 & 6; 91:15; 106:44; 145:19; Isa. 63:9; Heb. 4:15) Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, come from the Gk. empatheia, which literally means: feeling into or feeling with. It is a much stronger human connection to another than is sympathy, which involves feeling from a distance. Samuel Oliner, a Jew, who as 12 year-old boy, escaped when the Nazis murdered his family along with about thousand other Jews from his area of Poland, but who was then taken in and cared for by a Christian woman, later became a sociologist. He decided to do a study of some 1500 “Righteous Gentiles" (those brave, non-Jewish, Europeans who risked everything, endangering their own lives, to rescue Jews from the murderous Nazis. He concluded that the one defining quality that they all shared was empathy. In his own words: “ We found a clear correlation between empathy and altruistic behavior.... [These] helpers simply could not stand by and see others suffer.... Altruists, unlike bystanders [who did not help], had internalized the ethic of caring and social responsibility [which they had] learned from their parents and [other adult models]. [They all shared] the capacity for love and compassion. … Moral behavior is the consequence of empathy, caring for others, a strong attachment to the moral community, and an ethical obligation to all life. Reaching out to others at considerable personal risk, …, has been the force behind much that is good in the world. It has saved innumerable lives and inspired new acts of generosity and heroism. Conversely, a lack of empathy can lead to acts of great evil. (1 John 3:17) As one preacher said, “I have become convinced that human evil is only possible if you can look into the eyes of another human being and NOT see God there." Empathy is both an in-born, human quality and is capable of being cultivated or suppressed In his book, Emotional Intelligence, Dr. Daniel Grollman asserts that all human beings come into the world with a strong empathetic impulse. "The roots of empathy," he writes, "can be traced to infancy. Virtually from the day they are born, infants are upset when they hear another infant crying.... [I]nfants feel [empathetic] distress even before they fully realize that they exist apart from other people -- a response [that is] the earliest precursor of empathy." And Dr. Harvey Hornstein, in his book, Cruelty and Kindness, asserts that parents, teachers and other adult role models (who model empathetic and compassionate behavior in their daily living) can and do produce more altruistic and empathetic children. We know that it is easy to teach prejudice and hatred, we can also teach altruism and empathy. Feeling empathy is what leads one to act with compassion.

Compassion: Sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it (Webster’s) Racham (Heb.) - compassion, mercy, pity, care, tender love as a mother for the fruit of her womb (see Isa. 46:3) Involves awareness, feeling and action (Matt. 25:34-40) God’s Compassion God’s compassion never fails and is new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23, Ps. 25:6) Compassion is part of God’s Name (Ex. 34:5-7) Repentance is met by God’s forgiveness out of compassion (Deut.13:17, 30:3, 2 Chron. 30:9, Ps. 78:38, Luke 15:20) The Lord sends us warnings out of compassion (2 Chron. 36:15) God is full of compassion (Ps. 86:15, 111:4, 112:4, 145:8) God’s compassion is like that of a parent to His child (Isa. 49:16) The Lord’s extends compassion after discipline (Jer 12:15, Lam. 3:32, Micah 7:19) To whom He will show compassion is up to God (Rom. 9:15) God had compassion on Ninevah after seeing their repentance despite Jonah’s objections. Our appropriate response in difficult times is to trust in God’s compassion & faithfulness and therefore to wait upon Him for deliverance. Compassion as Demonstrated by Jesus Jesus had compassion on the crowds (Matt. 9:36, 14:14, 15:32, Mark 6:34, 8:2) Jesus had compassion of the sick (Matt. 20:34, Mark 1:41, 5:18-19) Jesus had compassion on the grieving (Luke 7:13) Our Compassion We are called to emulate the Lord’s compassion (Zech. 7:9, Matt.18:33, Luke 10:33, Heb. 10:34, 1 Pe. 3:8) Refusal to show compassion is one of the sins for which Edom was condemned (Amos 1:11) Going through trials ourselves helps to make us compassionate (Heb. 5:2) Whether or not we demonstrate compassion a way of determining whether or not the love of God is in us (1 John 3:17, Jude 1:22)

When God decides to act, a more than sufficient/even miraculous (Heb. pala’: powerful, wonderful, extraordinary, difficult to comprehend) result, is a forgone conclusion (Exodus 3:19-21; Rom. 8:31; 1 Thess. 5:24) God identified Himself in a way that distinguished Himself from other gods. Heb. hayah: I am/I exist, I stand, I remain, and I am with/accompany (Exodus 3:14) When God decides to act, He takes the initiative, and it is up to us to respond. He will find a way to get our attention and to draw us to Him, like he used the burning bush that was not consumed to get the attention of Moses (Exodus 3:3-4) or the blinding light on the road to Damascus to get Saul/Paul’s attention (Acts 9:3-4). God often works through ordinary, frail, imperfect individuals, like Moses (Exodus 4:1012), Gideon (Judges 6:11) (and us) to accomplish is plans (even today!). Trusting God, and allowing themselves to be used by Him, transformed them from weak and fearful to strong and courageous. It can likewise transform us! If we allow God to use us, He will supply what we need to accomplish His will. (Phil. 4:19) The Holy Spirit gives them the ability to speak powerfully & boldly (Acts 2:4; 4:13, 29 & 31; Eph. 3:12; Phillip. 1:20; 1 Sam. 10:6-11; 2 Chron. 20:14-17; Isa. 48:16-17, Ezek. 11:5; Acts 4:29-31; 1 Cor. 2:3-5) Its not so much about you using the Holy Spirit, its about the Holy Spirit using you. When God chooses to act, there is no mistaking the fact that He has done so. Even the unrighteous will recognize it (Exodus 8:19) What is Holy Ground? (Exodus 3:5) Holy ground is a place where we experience God’s glory; where we are able to transcend those things that separate us from God; where we temporarily glimpse the “true light” of God in an extraordinary way. It is the presence of God that makes it holy. Experiencing “holy ground” inspires and empowers us, like Moses, to face difficult tasks that lay ahead.