Compassion Is Victory

Scripture: Psalm 68:5 – “Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.” (NRSVUE)

Christians believe that God is almighty, omnipotent, and all powerful. God cannot lose. And sometimes, we just want to see God “taking names”. We want to see God claim unquestionable victory over all the forces that oppose us.

Psalm 68 is a psalm of victory and lists all the ways in which God triumphs. It alludes to God’s role leading the people from slavery in Egypt through the wilderness. It says things like, “Let God rise up; let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish before God.” “O God, when you went out before your people … the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God…” “But God will shatter the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of those who walk in their guilty ways.” God swats away armies like gnats and causes the earth to quake under the Lord’s power.

But amid this fist-pumping action, there is another side of God, and one I would argue cannot be separated from the first. The psalm describes God as “Father of orphans and protector of widows.” Indeed, as God is triumphing over the people’s military enemies, God is also described as freeing prisoners and providing for the needy. Indeed, the forces of oppression and poverty are just as much enemies of God as armies of Amorites or parched deserts.

We sometimes forget that compassion is a kind of victory. Perhaps it doesn’t get the blood pumping in the same way as seeing enemies flee. Compassion is rarely the plot of an action movie. But compassion is victory, because it is the way in which we overcome some of the greatest enemies that we have in our lives.

When our enemies suffer, it can feel good, but our enemies are also God’s children. In this respect, no one really wins unless we all win. By focusing on compassion, we work not on hurting people but fixing problems and guiding people away from destructive behaviors to love and mercy.

The picture of God reigning in glory above the clouds is incomplete in a world where widows and orphans—that is, the most vulnerable people in a society—are left to suffer. Victory is empty unless it points toward a world where all find freedom and mercy.

In a world filled with many problems and where many people are our enemies, wield compassion as your weapon. Love those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you, help those no one else will help, and find the glory of God through your acts of kindness.

Prayer: Lord of power and might, grant me victory today by loving the people you have created, especially those in most need of your salvation. Amen.

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