MTAF 5: GOD’S EMPATHY

When I was a Youth Minister, I faced many challenges that made me feel somewhat out of my depth. None were more challenging than when a student—often a young woman—would come to me very upset after a recent breakup. They would cry, frequently proclaiming that he was “the one” and that they would never love again. In my mind, I wanted to remind them that they were in eighth grade and had plenty of time to find another love. If I had met the guy, I might have thought, “He wasn’t that great anyway.” Fortunately, my wife often stopped me from saying these things, reminding me to be more sensitive.

The skill I truly lacked, however, was empathy. I did not know what it was like to experience a major breakup as a girl in middle school—partly because I am not a girl, and partly because my own middle school years weren’t filled with dates. While I felt sad when my students were upset, I couldn’t fully understand what they were going through.

This morning, we are going to discuss one of my favorite attributes of God: His empathy. We have a God who not only sympathizes with us but also truly understands what we are going through because He has experienced it Himself.