“Empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
Without empathy people are at best selfish… at worst they are literally psychopathic…
Empathy is vital for relationships, and that includes our relationship with God…
The awful reality is that if we live long enough, we will all know grief, we will all know overwhelming burden, and hardship… so if this is a part of the human experience, how on earth do we make it through?
We all need a little empathy from our friends from time to time… If human empathy matters so much, how much more does the empathy of God matter…
In the garden we see His intent in relationship with us… that we would have labors, loving relationships with one another, with creation, and that we would walk with Him in perfection, in perfect relationship with us… is it a stretch to say he empathizes with us…
Caring in its truest form is not warm thoughts… but actions where possible…
God knows where you’re at, He feels where you’re at… He is empathetic to your struggles… and He wants to walk with you in them…
“Our High Priest is not cold and unfeeling… Had we a high priest who was cold and heartless; who simply performed the external duties of his office without entering into the sympathies of those who came to seek for pardon; who had never experienced any trials, and who felt himself above those who sought his aid, we should necessarily feel disheartened in attempting to overcome our sins, and to live to God. His coldness would repel us; his stateliness would awe us; his distance and reserve would keep us away, and perhaps render us indifferent to all desire to be saved.”
In your suffering God also suffered… He is the God of empathy… He knows right where you’re at, and He wants you to know Him…”