“But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.” (Luke 10:33)
Have you ever felt like eyes were all around, watching you? Eyes that silently waited for the next time you slipped up, messed up, or didn’t measure up. Eyes that gave you a haunted, hunted feeling. Eyes that saw you with judgment.
Or maybe they haven’t always been other people’s eyes. Maybe at times they have been your own. When you have been viewed with judgment, sometimes that way of looking finds a home inside your own heart and mind. You routinely look for the negatives in what you have thought and done, and you find them. You regularly second-guess yourself and your motives and are prepared to believe the worst about yourself. You internalize other people’s criticism until it becomes the lens through which you view your own life.
When that happens, it’s a short step to take to assume that this must be how God sees you, too. It just makes sense that he can see every flaw and fault that you can; and if you don’t like what you see, he couldn’t possibly. At the least, he’s got to be deeply disappointed in you. More likely, he’s fed up—right?
Hearing that God loves you won’t mean much if you’re convinced that he’s frustrated and critical, wondering when you’ll get your act together—wondering if you’ll get it together. Little will torpedo your confidence in his love faster or more effectively than believing that he sees you with judgment.
Maybe that’s why Scripture shows you a God who sees people with a compassion so strong that it compels him to help them. Hagar discovers that he’s the seeing God who cares about her in her misery (see Gen. 16:11–13). Moses learns that God is so moved by seeing the Israelites’ misery that he plans to rescue them (see Ex. 3:7‒8). And Jesus, God made flesh, embodied this same combination of traits as he walked on earth. He saw the helpless state of the crowds that flocked to him and had compassion on them, teaching and healing them (see Matt. 9:35–36; 14:14). He was deeply moved when he saw his friend Mary weeping, and he acted to set right what was wrong (see John 11:33).
These aspects of God’s character are so important that Jesus built them into his parables. A Samaritan helps a man who’s been beaten, because he sees him and is filled with compassion (see Luke 10:33). A father runs to greet his wayward child because he is moved with compassion when he sees him return home (see Luke 15:20).
God sees you with compassion. It’s who he is. When you’ve lost confidence in him and believe that he sees you with judgment, you need to remind yourself, “No—he sees me with compassion.” When you cringe and are waiting for someone to rebuke you for what you’ve said or done, remind yourself, “He sees me with compassion.” When that feeling of dread steals over your heart, remind yourself, “He sees me with compassion.” When you’re afraid that you are about to be found out for the fraud that you think you are, remind yourself, “He sees me with compassion.”
Repeat it to yourself—not as a mantra to empty your mind, but as the truth that must fill your soul.
REMEMBER THAT GOD IS WATCHING YOU, AND THAT HE IS WATCHING YOU WITH COMPASSION. REMEMBER GOD WILL MEET YOUR NEEDS.
PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES
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