How Long, O Lord?

“For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says that LORD who had compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10

Compassion – How long will God be compassionate? How long will He demonstrate active care and concern over us in the same way a mother cares for the child within her?

Isaiah speaks God’s answer. Until the entire order of the universe is overthrown – and then some.

The imagery in Isaiah’s oracle is not just about earthquakes. It is about the annihilation of the natural order, the overthrow of the mountains and hills in a cosmic cataclysm. And God says, “It is more difficult to imagine the utter destruction of all that is, than it is to imagine that I will not be compassionate.”

Did you get that? Did that sink in? Did it come face to face with your discouragement, your frustration, your anxiety, your guilt – and triumph over all those temporary forces? God’s compassion is more permanent than the world under your feet, more stable than the universe you inhabit. God’s compassion is Who He is, no exceptions, no contingencies.

So, why, my child, are you afraid? Why does the lack of resources trouble you? Why does your physical discomfort get you down? Why are you discouraged at the onslaught of evil or the crush of temptation? Why do you despair? God’s compassion is more solid than anything you can even imagine in this world – and in the next. What does it matter how this tiny part of the eternal play unravels? God’s compassion is forever.

God has made an active decision to foster, nurture and protect you. That is all that matters.