S) "5 My heart cries out for Moab;
His fugitives are as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah,
For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping;
Surely on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over their ruin."
Isaiah 15:5 (NASB)
O) This chapter is an oracle against Moab, a nation that had a long and bitter history with the Israelites. Going as far back as Number 22, when Balak sends for Balaam, Moab has been in conflict with God's people. So, with this oracle foretelling of Moab's downfall, this verse took me off guard. It's not that I expected celebration at Moab's destruction (because, in fact, there are many passages of Scripture that warn against that sentiment), but I didn't exactly expect a heart cry. I expected something a little more along the lines of a "no love lost" type of sentiment. As brutal as the Old Testament times could be, we still have a compassionate God who wants compassionate people.
A) Compassion was a struggle for me when I wasn't serving God. I was very bitter, and prideful, and callous toward others. I saw the struggles people around me might have as their own battle. I sort of took on the same brutal mentality as the X-Men super-villain, Apocalypse. I figured it was survival of the fittest, and if people couldn't suck it up and get themselves out of their situation, then they basically deserved to be there. It breaks my heart to think of that, now. I was so hopelessly helpless, and I had no idea. It wasn't my own determination and will that saved me from my sin, or from the destruction that was in my future. It was pure grace, by the compassion of God. It is that same compassion that I received, that changed my heart to compassion toward others. When I see the struggles of others, even those who oppose God's people, it should grieve me. If it doesn't, then I need to confess to God, and humbly ask Him to soften my heart, to make it compassionate like His.
P) Father, thank You for changing me, beginning with my heart. Open my eyes to recognize any hardness of heart, so that I am committed to love, as You love. Help me to see the afflictions of others with an empathy that moves me to prayer, so that I am seeking their good, even if they are against me. In Jesus's name I pray. Amen.
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