A Burger for a Beggar

Isaiah 54:4-8

 (Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2054%3A4-8&version=NIV;NCV

 

 

Recently I stopped at a McDonalds. There was a man opening the door for customers going in or out. I knew he was going to ask me for money, and when he did, instead I bought him a burger. Although it was a compassionate act, I think I felt more obligated than compassionate.

 

Isaiah was writing to the people of Judah who were in exile. As judgement for their sin, they had been torn from their homes, their families, their jobs and taken to a strange land. Yet, God had compassion on them and He was promising them that they would return and multiply in their homeland.

 

² Make your tent bigger… ³ because you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your children will take over other nations, and they will again live in cities that once were destroyed.     NCV

 

Lepers were an invisible people during the time of Jesus’ ministry. Because of their

disease they were removed from their homes, their families, their jobs and forced to live outside the city walls. If they approached anyone they had to shout out, “Unclean, unclean”. But Jesus had compassion for a leper, and he healed him.

 

God is indeed compassionate. He spoke these words to the exiles through Isaiah:

 

⁷ “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. ⁸ In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.          NIV

 

God took compassion on you and me when He sent His Son to die for our sins and when He opened our hearts to His redeeming love. To whom has He called you to show compassion? To the homeless? To orphans? To the elderly? To prisoners? Or maybe it’s someone closer to home like your spouse or your boss.

 

Whoever it is, we are called to become more like the Lord, and the Lord is compassionate. Let us show acts of compassion even when it means going out of our comfort zone. Even when it means giving a burger for a beggar. After all, aren’t we all beggars?

 

 

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

 

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