Day 17 – Lack of empathy

“He who oppresses the poor taunts and insults his Maker, but he who is kind and merciful and gracious to the needy honors Him.” Proverbs 14:31

All of us have gone through terrible experiences throughout our lives, we know how it feels on the receiving end of tragedy, loss and evil done to us. Empathy is that which creates in us a heart of understanding, because we know that we were in that same situation ourselves, but when have avoided learning the lessons which those circumstances had to teach us, we become hard and inflexible, not being able to use our own experience to love unconditionally, with the understanding that things happen in this world and sometimes it is undeserved, sometimes well-deserved and other times just what seems an impossible culmination of circumstances used by the enemy to bring destruction. This is where we, when we have empathy, can bring hope, light and wisdom and restore life and faith, instead of trampling it underfoot.

Prayer: Saviour, we have experienced some questionable things in this life, but we have come to know that in Your hands, nothing is ever without result or reward and having our hearts of stone ripped out to be replaced with one of understanding and empathy for those who experience what we have experienced, is a blessing like none other, for it opens to us a world wherein we can be helpers, restorers and life-givers and doing so with a deep understanding, because we know what we are talking about. May we change and become useful with all this knowledge and experience, to enhance the Kingdom, becoming a more accurate reflections of You, because You are empathetic to us, knowing how it feels to be human. In Jesus’s name. Amen.

Written by Anna-Mart Nel for www.womenoftheword.co.za