Suggested reading: Mark chapter 4 verses 35-41; chapter 5 verses 1-20.

Are you guilty, at times, of wondering whether God actually cares about you, particularly when you are passing through difficult circumstances? Even Jesus’s disciples were guilty of this. On one occasion they were in a boat in the midst of a raging storm that struck fear into them. They turned on Jesus, who was asleep in the boat, and cried out, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’, chapter 4 verse 20. He graciously showed them that he cared by rebuking the wind and saying to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’, chapter 4 verse 39. Sadly, all too often we need to be reminded of Peter’s words, ‘He cares for you’, 1 Peter 5 verse 7.

Once Jesus and the disciples had reached their destination on the other side of the sea, they were met by those in desperate need of COMPASSION. They were confronted by a demon-possessed man, a ruler of the synagogue, whose daughter was at the point of death, a woman with a ‘flow of blood’ and a twelve-year-old girl, who had died. The demon-possessed man, in particular, had not received any COMPASSION from others; indeed, they had bound him with chains in an attempt to tame him, chapter 5 verse 4. They abandoned him to live in the tombs, where he cried out and cut himself with stones, chapter 5 verse 5. However, when he met Jesus, he experienced COMPASSION that changed his life. Jesus cast out the demons and left him ‘sitting and clothed and in his right mind’, chapter 5 verse 15. He was so touched by the compassion shown to him that he wanted to follow Jesus; however, Jesus said, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had COMPASSION on you’, chapter 5 verse 19.

How many people have you told about the COMPASSION the Lord Jesus has had on you?