Overwhelming Compassion

Episode Notes:

This program was comprised of the following episodes:

"Snapshots of Compassion: Thailand"

"The Heart of Compassion"

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Dannah Gresh: It was a simple birthday celebration in a home for girls in Thailand. 

Nora Duncan: Ning put her hands over her daughter’s eyes and said to keep them closed. Al and Susan entered the room carrying a small, round object lit with candles. Little Pai’s pigtails almost seemed to be quivering with excitement. Ning bent down to Pai and told her she could open her eyes and everyone in the room let out a, “Happy Birthday!”

It was a beautiful little birthday cake! Her reaction was not what I expected! 

Dannah: We’ll hear what that reaction was, today.

Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend, I’m Dannah Gresh.

Colossians 3:12 say, "Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Put on . . .compassion. Today, I want to spend some time with you talking about that.

Compassion, it’s kind of a hot topic today. We hear how people need to have empathy for people around the world in war torn countries, for caring about hungry children, or helping a sick person at church . . . And that’s just the beginning of the list, isn’t it? There are really so many needs, aren't there? 

So let’s think through this all together. We’ll hear from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. Paula Marstellar will share how to not get burned out when you are gifted with a compassionate heart. And we’ll see what compassion looks like lived out in Thailand.

First, Nancy DeMoss Wolgumuth. She spent some time considering compassion and looking at it through someone's eyes in the New Testament. Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgumuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: One of my very favorite characters in the New Testament is a woman to whom there is only one paragraph devoted. We don’t know a lot about her, but what we do know, I think is inspirational and really challenges my life as a woman of God.

Her name is Tabitha, or as Acts nine tells us, when that word is translated, the other name you may know her by is the name Dorcas. She lived in a town named Joppa, and you may want to look there in your Bible in Acts chapter 9, beginning in verse 36.

We’re told that she was a disciple. She was a follower of Christ named Tabitha or Dorcas, and here’s the descriptive phrase of this woman. She “was always doing good and helping the poor” (NIV). That’s almost all that we’re told about her.

She was a disciple. She was a woman. We don’t know if she was married or single. She may have been widowed. We don’t know, but we know that she loved Christ and that the way she expressed her love for Christ was that she was always doing good and helping the poor. She had a reputation for that. That’s what she was known for.

Well, verse 37 tells us, “About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter [the apostle Peter] was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, ‘Please come at once!’” (37–38 NIV).

Now, they didn’t go and call Peter every time someone died, but when this woman died, she was really missed. Even the men were sent to him. The disciples heard that Peter was there. They sent two men to him. They urged him, “Please come at once!”

It seems like everyone’s life was affected by the loss of this woman. What a reputation! She wasn’t an apostle. She wasn’t a preacher. She wasn’t a pastor. God has called men to have those roles in the body of Christ.

She wasn’t the head of a home. We don’t know much about her except that she was a woman who was always doing good and reaching out to those in need. When this woman died, she was missed. People were affected.

How will people be affected when you die? Will there be a sense of “this is a crisis” because you were always doing good and helping people, and you’ll be missed for reasons of your being compassionate and merciful?

Well, Peter went with them—verse 39 of Acts 9. “When he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room.” Then listen to this description. “All the widows stood around him” (NIV). Apparently, one of Tabitha’s ministries was caring for the widows.

Now, we don’t know that that’s all she cared for. She cared for the poor. She did good. If she had family, we know she did good to them, but here were widows who stood around Peter. They were “crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them” (v. 39 NIV).

They came to display these things that Dorcas had made for them while she was still alive. They were touched. She apparently had not just done these acts of mercy. She must have had a heart of mercy because they apparently felt connected to her.

It wasn’t just the clothing they were going to miss. It was the woman behind the clothing, so we see that with these acts of mercy there was relationship. There was heart. There was compassion. There was tenderness, and I think I’m not reading into the text to say that that would be the case.

As the passage goes on, it says that, “Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ She opened her eyes, and,” only in the Bible could this be true, and it is true because it’s in the Bible—“seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord” (vv. 40–42 NIV).

By her life, by her death, and by her resurrection, God used this woman as an instrument to bring many to faith in Christ. It’s as we as women live out a life of compassion and generosity and mercy toward those who are in need, that we make the Gospel believable.

It’s one thing to have preachers and writers and radio speakers talking about the Gospel. It’s another thing to have a woman in your community who lives out the Gospel, who makes it visible, who makes it tangible, who makes it believable by acts of mercy and compassion, coupled with a heart of mercy and compassion.

Dannah: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been sharing about the life of Tabitha. What an example Tabitha left for us of living out a heart of compassion.

A few years ago, a team from Revive Our Hearts went to Thailand. While they were there, our team spent time with Al and Susan Henson who head up the ministry Compassionate Hope. They help children who are at risk for human trafficking by giving them a home to live in—these homes are known as Homes of Hope.

Did you know that in Thailand, children, especially girls, are expected to provide financially for their parents? Many children work in factories when they’re only twelve or thirteen. For many children it’s either a factory job or prostitution. Al and Susan bring these young women into the Homes of Hope and they give them new life.

During the trip our team got to hear the stories of Emma, Ning, and others. But for Nora Duncan, one of our team members, there was something that distinctly pierced her heart of compassion. Here’s Nora to share.

Nora: On our last night, we all gathered with the girls from the Homes of Hope, and each of them went around the room and shared their hope for the future. One girl mentioned that her mom had become sick, her mom then became blind and then she died. 

This girl said she wanted to become an eye doctor and help people like her mom. When it was Emma’s turn, she said she wanted to be a mom at a Home of Hope. 

Emma: I want to have land and a house and start a Home of Hope, just like Ning did! I know the struggles that girls go through, and it makes me want to help them.

Nora: She’s wanting to live out her life like 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, which says, 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Emma: I want to give girls a good future, just like the future I was given!

Nora: The rest of the girls finished sharing their dreams for the future. But this meeting wasn’t over. One of the newest members at Ning’s Home of Hope was a little girl named Pai. She had been adopted only several months earlier. As we finished our sharing time, the rest of her sisters were giggling and laughing around her like little fireflies. They knew that today was a special day for Pai. 

Ning put her hands over her daughter’s eyes and said to keep them closed. Al and Susan entered the room carrying a small, round object lit with candles. Little Pai’s pigtails almost seemed to be quivering with excitement. Ning bent down to Pai and told her she could open her eyes and everyone in the room let out a, “Happy Birthday!”

It was a beautiful little birthday cake! Her reaction was not what I expected! She turned to Papa Al, who was standing next to her, buried her face in his stomach, threw her arms around him and started to cry . . . and she kept crying for several minutes.

The candles were burning, everyone was ready to celebrate, but the birthday girl was just standing there sobbing. Pai never had a birthday celebration at her local city bounce house; she had never been to Chuck E. Cheese; she had never even received a birthday cake before. In fact, I don’t think her life had been celebrated before that night.

Pai wasn’t really hungry for a piece of cake. You see, before coming to the Home of Hope, she had been starved for love. For the first time she was being told, “You were created by a God who loves you, and that’s worth celebrating!” To her, it was overwhelming.

As I watched Pai’s reaction to receiving the cake, it reminded me of the day when I received a really special gift as well. It was the day when I realized that God had sent His Son to come to earth, not to live for Himself, but to die. He died to take my sin and give me new life.

Jesus is the best gift I have ever received, and when I really understood that for the first time, I cried, too. Pai finally let go of Al’s shirt. She took the cake. She didn’t say a word, and she set it on the ground. She took a knife and cut straight through those beautifully iced flowers. She cut out a huge piece. She set it on a plate, and instead of eating it herself, she brought it straight to Al. 

And then she went around the room and offered a piece to Ning, to every single one of her sisters, and to every member on our team. Once every single person had been served, she finally took a piece of cake for herself.

Throughout our time at the Home of Hope, I saw something powerful in action: when we realize how much God has given to us, we can’t help but give to others. When we realize that God has rescued us from sin, it makes us want to worship Him and share our songs with the world!

When God takes the broken pieces in our lives and turns them into something beautiful, we’re called to find hurting people and comfort them. And when we receive the greatest gift of all—Jesus Himself—we can’t help but share that gift with the people all around us.

Dannah: That’s Nora Duncan sharing about her experience in Thailand.

This is such an incredible story of what God is doing through one couple who had compassion. They saw how God was healing hearts from past hurts. To hear more of what Al and Susan Henson are doing in Thailand go to our website ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend, click on the latest episode and we’ll have a link there titled Snapshots of Compassion.

One thing that can sometimes happen with compassion is that we feel we have to fill all the needs around us and in the world. You know what I mean? 

Paula Marsteller is healing from compassion burnout, or as she says, "compassion gone awry." That’s what happens when we think we need to  fill every need around us. Here’s Paula with a timely word for us.

Paula Marsteller: I have a long way to go on this journey, obviously. But I want to welcome you to join me in asking yourself some questions. One those is: are you finding yourself resentful because you are so busy taking care of everybody's needs out there that you are not caring for the needs right around you? Have you forgotten your "creatureliness"?

Psalm 103:13–14 says, "As the father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion on those who fear him." Why? "He knows our frame. He remembers we are dust."

God has compassion for you and me because He knows that we were made out of dust, that we are returning to dust, and it is only His breath in us that gives us life.

Job 33:4 says, "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."

Do you remember your frailty, your dependence on God? Or do you, like me, mistakenly play the role of redeemer, of rescuer, or savior? Do you forget that you are the sheep, not the Shepherd? Are you aware of your boundaries and your limits?

Now, I'm not calling you to sit down, put your feet up, take long bubble baths every day, go to bed by 8:00 p.m., but I do wonder, do you recognize the limits you have of place, of time, and of body?

God, on the other hand, unlike us, is not limited by a body. He's spirit. He's not limited by time. He's outside of time. God is not limited by place.

In 2 Chronicles 6:18 says, "Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house I have built?" God alone can meet every need that we see, because God alone has no limits, no boundaries. So compassion go awry when you and I forget this about God. It's not the only way we get God wrong.

I've gotten the gospel; I feel like it has gone deep in me, and yet, often my life reflects that I am viewing God more like a taskmaster, with whip in hand, driving me to work harder, to sweat more, to produce greater results.

This faulty view of God turns compassion into compulsion; it turns privilege into pain; it turns delight into drudgery; it turns joyful service into slavery. 

The Bible paints such a different picture of our God. Turn with me to Exodus 3:7–8. God's people are slaves in Egypt. They've been here for years. When they think it can't get any worse, their taskmasters pile even heavier burdens on them. And what does God say in verses 7–8? "Then the LORD said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt . . .'"

That is the first step in compassion, seeing the need. "'. . . and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their suffering, and I have come down to deliever them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.'" And as you know, God does deliver them.

So I just want to ask, is it possible that you have been viewing God as a taskmaster, with whip in hand? Do you feel like He is disappointed in you because you aren't pulling your weight in the kingdom?

I have two friends who have recently gone through separations from their husbands over abuse. One of them a couple years ago told me that she was having a hard time in her marriage. It was a quick, passing conversation. But rather than asking her what that looked like, I just encouraged her to keep having open communication with her husband. I was not realizing that wasn't even a possibility for her.

Another woman lived with us for a couple months. She separated from her husband after thirty-four years of quiet abuse. She told me that when she told a woman that her husband was the most loving man she knew and the most hateful man she knew, no one ever asked her what that looked like.

Ladies, we have to learn how to be quick to hear and slow to speak. Let's ask clarifying questions. Let's seek to understand. Let's actively listen before we start forming our little sermonette in our minds. Are we slow to speak? Do we recognize our overwhelming need for wisdom? Do we ask God to richly supply it before we open our mouths? And when we open our mouths, is it to share one, wise truth that the Holy Spirit has laid on our hearts? Or is it to machinegun them with as many Bible verses as we can think of?

How we need to be Solomons, to have the humility to ask God for the wisdom; to recognize that life is complicated and people even more so. And . . . we just don't have all the answers, and that's okay.

I have a mentor in New York. One of the things I appreciate about her when she comes to my home is, she often just listens. After she goes home, I will often receive a text with Scripture or some thoughts. She doesn't feel that pressure to instantly respond on the spot.

I recently heard a woman say, "I used to be a rescuer, but now I'm a stretcher-bearer." I assume that she is referring to the story in Luke 5 where there was a paralyzed man and his friends brought him to Jesus, knowing that this man could never get to Jesus on his own, and knowing the Jesus was the only one who could help him.

Something that has surprised me as I've recently discovered what a problem I've had in trying to meet all the needs, as I've taken a step back, I've actually begun to pray more. It makes sense, because I'm not trying to meet all the needs myself. I suddently realize that, "Oh, there's Someone else who can meet those needs."

To be honest, I thought what I was doing was obeying the first commandment: loving God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and then focusing on the second commandment, loving my neighbe as myself. But what I've learned just in the last week is that somehow I've just bypassed that whole first commandment, and I jumped right to that second commandment.

I know from experience that that is not sustainable longterm: to obey God's commands to love others with all my heart if I am not first sitting with my God and delighting in Him, enjoying Him, loving Him. So I'm beginning to realize that all of the needs that I see around me are actually an invitation for me to come into my Father's presence and experience intimacy with Him as I bring those concerns to Him.

Second Corinthians 1:3 calls God the "Father of compassion and the God of all comfort." This God of compassion so loved the world that He sent His Son to suffer with us. And not just to suffer with us, but to suffer for us. He alone has what it takes to meet all those overwhelming needs that you see around you. The question is, will you continue to seek to save and rescue all those around you, or will you become a stretcher-bearer to bring people to Jesus—the only true need-meeter?

Dannah: That was Paula Marsteller. I love that. She just gave us permission to not fill every need ourselves, because if you think about it, only God can meet every need, because He’s not limited. I am. You are. We are. So relax, my friend, and take all the needs around you to God. He’ll let you know which compassionate deed or deeds are perfect for you to do.

True Woman '22 is coming up this September 22, 23, and 24 in Indianapolis. I would love for you to join us. It will be a time of breathing in God and being reminded that He reigns over heaven and earth and over all the things that clamor for your attention. I’m so excited for this event. Please consider joining us.

You can register online, go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend, and click on the Revive Our Hearts logo at the top of the page. Or you can always call us at 1-800-569-5959. 

Next week, we’ll talk about adoption. I’ll share my story. It’s a story that changed my life. We’ll hear from a few others. God does amazing things when we step out of our comfort zones, doesn’t He?

Thanks for listening today. Thanks to our team: Phil Krause, Blake Bratton, Rebekah Krause, Justin Converse, Michelle Hill, and for Revive Our Hearts Weekend, I’m Dannah Gresh.

Revive Our Hearts is calling women to freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ.

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