Love Your Enemies

And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back Jeremiah 12:15

Compassion – The Hebrew picture of compassion is graphically portrayed by the image of the unborn child in the womb. Let that sink in! The child is totally dependent, absolutely helpless, willfully innocent and completely at the mercy of the mother. That is what God wants you to understand about compassion. Compassion is never about reciprocity. It is never calculated in terms of what I can expect to get back. Compassion is the active decision to foster, nurture and protect the life of another without any regard to self. (That is why abortion is such a hideous sin.)

So, when Jeremiah speaks God’s word about having compassion on those whom God has uprooted, we are not startled or shocked. We expect God to have compassion. After all, doesn’t God define Himself as compassionate (Exodus 34:6)? But our assumption is grossly misplaced. This verse is the only verse in the Old Testament where God’s compassion is given to Israel’s neighbors and, more surprisingly, to Israel’s enemies. If we only realized this simple fact, we would shout joyful praise at the inclusion of this verse. It is the only verse that applied to all of us, the Gentiles who have been grafted in. Thank God for His compassion.

The Hebrew word raham is used for both “compassion” and “womb.” It occurs 49 times in the Old Testament and only one time, in this verse, is it applied to any people except Israel. That means for us this is the most important verse about raham that we could ever have. We, the enemies of God, the Gentiles, the not-chosen ones, are still the subjects of His active decision to foster, nurture and protect life. We are included in the birth children of the Lord because of this verse. We did not receive our citizenship in the Kingdom because of our connection to Israel. We were not under God’s initial favor in the historical unveiling of His plan of redemption. But we are nevertheless included. Raham rules in our lives too.

Have you ever considered just how incredibly marvelous this is? God could have left us out. He didn’t need us. We had no compelling case that demanded His favor (hesed). We were simply the “others”, brought near to the Lord because of His eternal raham. Do you ever contemplate the enormity of that small word in this obscure verse?

If you do, then you have one obligation to repay. Raham for the outsider must become the summary call of your life. How can you imagine enjoying God’s raham and not passing it on to another? What does compassion mean if it is squandered on yourself?