God said of Himself, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). Two of the greatest attributes of God are His “compassion” and “graciousness.” These two words convey the greatest message of God’s love, and they also ought to be the greatest motivation to serve Him.
“Compassion” is the ability to put oneself in the place of another so as to understand his or her condition. God is a God who understands. The root Hebrew word from which this word comes is even more graphic. One description used by Theological Wordbook of the O.T (#2146b) is the feelings a mother has toward her nursing infant. God feels that way toward us as He pets and papers us. God has demonstrated that He understands and loves us even in our sorry, sad, sinful condition. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The second word, “gracious,” conveys just as meaningful message. The root meaning of this Hebrew word is, “to bend or stoop or incline as a superior would toward an underserving inferior” (TWOT #694) Thus, the two words together pictures our loving God as the one who stoops over to fondle those of us who are so unworthy of His response.
Isn’t that a wonderful picture of God? He is that being of love who bends down as a loving Father to rub away the hurts of His injured children. That is the reason Paul said “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).
Wayne Burger