The Lord Has Compassion On All

"The Lord is good to all;

He has compassion on all He has made."

Psalm 145:9 (NIV)

Last week in our city, a tragic event occurred in which a young man twenty-one years of age took the lives of three of his coworkers and seriously injured a forth.

Yesterday, the pastor of our church prayed, as I'm sure did many others in Alberta, for the victims' families. However, there is still one more person who, right now, needs much prayer: the woman who, twenty-one years ago, bore a son and cared for him, undoubtedly being there to hear him say his first word, see him take his first step, hold his tiny hand on his first day of school, help him steady his bike when the training wheels first came off, celebrate with him the day he received his driver's license, congratulate him on obtaining his first job, and beam with pride the day he graduated from high school.

Today, this woman not only bears the anguish of the families of the victims her son killed, but also the anguish of losing her son who will almost certainly spend most of his remaining life behind cold, iron bars. She will probably be the one who bears her son's guilt, all the while facing severe criticism and judgement from others, including those who used to be friends. Even if people don't attack her directly with words, I'm sure she will be ignored, stared at, rejected, and avoided. Let's pray that people instead will have compassion upon her and show her love. And even more importantly, let's pray that she will come to experience God's precious love and His everlasting kindness.

Let's also pray that her murderous son would repent and come to know God as His forgiving and loving Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and if He could save someone like Paul, who was responsible for persecuting and slaughtering hundreds of early Christians, he can save a triple murderer today.

"This is a trustworthy saying,

and everyone should accept it:

'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners' —

and I am the worst of them all."

1 Timothy 1:15 (NLT)