{"id":4532,"date":"2026-07-13T18:02:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T01:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/?p=4532"},"modified":"2026-07-13T18:02:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T01:02:34","slug":"god-cares-about-the-hurting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/2026\/07\/13\/god-cares-about-the-hurting\/","title":{"rendered":"God cares about the hurting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since I spend a lot of time in Africa through my mission work, I am constantly surrounded with suffering and hurting people, good folks who are in desperate situations, with needs that go well beyond their ability to address them. Over the years of witnessing this, it is easy to slide into a phenomenon called, “Compassion Fatigue.” CF can be defined as, “a state of physical, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion caused by prolonged exposure to the suffering and trauma of others.”<\/mark> While it is easy for me to develop a numbness to all the pain around me, I am so thankful God is never numb. He cares infinitely about the suffering of the masses around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In my devotions today I read from a portion of Isaiah. In chapter 58, the prophet clarifies the types of fasts God most delights in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6<\/sup>\u201cIs not this the fast that I choose:
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to loose the bonds of wickedness,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to undo the straps\u00a0of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and to break every yoke?
7\u00a0<\/sup>Is it not\u00a0to share your bread with the hungry
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8\u00a0<\/sup>Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the glory of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0shall be your rear guard.
9\u00a0<\/sup>Then you shall call, and the\u00a0Lord\u00a0will answer;
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0you shall cry, and he will say, \u2018Here I am.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of how God defines our spirituality is in the care and concern for the afflicted of the world. When we do this, our “light will break forth” as our righteousness and God’s glory is manifest. Nowadays we are inundated with news that captures story after story of tragic suffering and loss, and inoculation is almost inevitable. But God is aware of every incident, every ounce of pain people experience. And Jesus declared in one of His first sermons, quoting from Isaiah 61, that His ministry was to care for these exact people. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18 <\/sup>\u201cThe Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 <\/sup>to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20 <\/sup>And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 <\/sup>And he began to say to them, \u201cToday this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If God the Father and Jesus care so deeply about addressing the needs of the hurting of the world, maybe I should follow their lead and likewise care. I may not be able to physically or emotionally remove their afflictions, but I can walk with them, empathize as I listen to their stories, pray with them, and in appropriate ways seek to offer some sort of physical assistance. May God grant us the wisdom to “weep with those who weep,” to use His resources for God-glorifying purposes, and to point people to the Savior who promises ultimate healing from every struggle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since I spend a lot of time in Africa through my mission work, I am constantly surrounded with suffering and hurting people, good folks who are in desperate situations, with needs that go well beyond their ability to address them. Over the years of witnessing this, it is easy to slide into a phenomenon called, … Continue reading God cares about the hurting<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional-thoughts","category-mission-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4534,"href":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4532\/revisions\/4534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}