God Is Passionate and Compassionate
Lesson 4
God Is Passionate and Compassionate
(Psalms 103, Hosea 9, 1 Corinthians 13)
Copr. 2025, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.
Introduction: Does God have emotions? The Old Testament often refers to how God is feeling. Do God’s emotions affect His judgment? I know people whose judgment is primarily based on emotions, rather than logic, and I consider them to have inferior decision making skills. At the same time I am often blessed when people treat me with a positive emotion rather than the way logic would dictate. Genesis tells us that we are made in God’s image. If that includes emotions, and I think it does, how similar are our emotions to God’s emotions? Let’s jump into our study of the Bible and find out!
- A Parent’s Love
- Read Psalms 103:13. I trust that you, like me, had a great father. If so, could you trust that your father would love you and care about you? (When I face a problem, knowing that God cares about me as my father cared about me is calming.)
- Are you a parent? One of the best things about having children is that they teach us much about our relationship with God. What about God has being a parent taught you?
- Context is important. Read Psalms 103:8-10. Are these obedient people? (This describes how God reacts to us when we are doing the wrong thing.)
- Read Psalms 103:11-13. Our sin is the strain on our relationship with God. How thoroughly does God promise to solve our sin problem? (He removes our sins an eternal distance.)
- Both Psalms 103:13 and Psalms 103:11 say the loving attitude of God is for those who “fear Him.” How do you understand this reservation? (Thinking about our lesson two weeks ago, I think it means those who want to please God.)
- Read Psalms 103:14. When you were thinking about how to react to the misbehavior of your children, did you take their age into account? (This shows that God considers mitigating circumstances. Those cause us to be more compassionate.)
- Read Isaiah 49:14-16. Can God forget you? Is He unaware of the problems that trouble you? (God says that He is more faithful than a nursing mother!)
- How do you understand God saying that He has “engraved” you on the palms of His hands? (Several commentators say He has your name tattooed on His hands.)
- What does that symbolize? (He is constantly reminded of you.)
- What are our “walls” that God constantly considers? (A wall protects a city. God is constantly aware of your vulnerability.)
- How do you understand God saying that He has “engraved” you on the palms of His hands? (Several commentators say He has your name tattooed on His hands.)
- Read Psalms 103:13. I trust that you, like me, had a great father. If so, could you trust that your father would love you and care about you? (When I face a problem, knowing that God cares about me as my father cared about me is calming.)
- God’s Emotions Versus Our Emotions
- Read Hosea 11:8-9. God specifically says that His emotions are unlike ours. How do these verses suggest that is true? (God’s compassion for us moderates His “burning anger.”)
- What do humans do that God does not do? (He does not lose control. He does not let His negative emotions overcome His positive emotions towards us.)
- Read Deuteronomy 4:23-26. God says that He has a contract with His people. What does that contract say they cannot do? What actions on their part cause God to be jealous, a consuming fire, and a destroyer? (Making idols.)
- No one I know makes idols. Is that still a problem? Why does it make God jealous?
- Read Exodus 32:4. What about this statement would make you jealous if you were God? (They attribute their success over Egypt to something they made.)
- Read Exodus 20:17. People who have difficulty with coveting, claim that cars, houses, or possessions of others are idols. Would God be jealous of a car or a house?
- The terrible fires in Los Angeles, California have revealed a sinful side of humanity. People are reported as saying because the homes that burned are very expensive, the destruction is fine. Is there an explanation for that attitude other than covetousness?
- What, unlike cars or homes, can we do today that reflects the evil of Exodus 32:4? (Taking credit for what God has done. Attributing to our own efforts our success in life. Relying in times of trouble on something we have made (like our money).)
- Is there a link between this attitude and fine cars and homes? (If a person says they deserve fine things because of personal effort, rather than thanking God for His blessings, that is an idol worship problem.)
- Read Matthew 12:24 and Matthew 12:31-32. Is the unforgivable sin like idol worship? (Yes. It gives credit to demons for the work of the Holy Spirit.)
- Why would God be upset by this? (Do you like other people taking credit for what you do? God loves us and helps us. Why would we give credit to ourselves or demons?)
- You go to the hospital, you take medicine, you get well, and you give credit to the doctors and the medicine. Is that wrong? (Neither doctors nor medicines heal. They simply facilitate the body healing itself - a power that comes from God.)
- Does God object to us giving joint credit? (God partners with humans to do well.)
- Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-6. Is God love?
- If you answered, “Yes,” as we must, could God display any of these emotions? (We have discussed that God at times is jealous and angry.)
- Is that okay - that God has these emotions? (All of the situations we have discussed involve God being jealous or angry based on His love for us. The texts in 1 Corinthians are all examples of not loving.)
- This morning I read in the Wall Street Journal about the definition of a stupid decision. It said that people enjoying various levels of success can make stupid decisions. It defined a stupid decision as one that harms others with no obvious benefit to the person making the stupid decision. Do the negative emotions described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 benefit the person displaying them?
- If God displays a negative emotion, does that benefit Him? (That is the difference between God and humans. Our negative emotions, in most cases, do not help us. God’s negative emotions are to ultimately benefit humanity.)
- If you answered, “Yes,” as we must, could God display any of these emotions? (We have discussed that God at times is jealous and angry.)
- Read Hosea 11:8-9. God specifically says that His emotions are unlike ours. How do these verses suggest that is true? (God’s compassion for us moderates His “burning anger.”)
- Jesus’ Emotions
- Read Matthew 9:35. Jesus is evangelizing the people. He is sharing the gospel. Why would He need to heal “every” disease and “every” affliction? (Read Matthew 9:36. The answer is in the next verse. Jesus had compassion for them.)
- Read John 5:2-9. These verses reveal that many seriously ill people were present, but Jesus healed only one. Why? What about compassion on the others?
- Read Acts 3:1-2. How many times do you think Jesus entered the temple and passed by this fellow? (The text says he was there “daily.”)
- Read Acts 3:3-7. Why did Jesus never heal this fellow but His disciples did? (We know Jesus has compassion on us all because He died so that everyone could be saved. The only reasonable conclusion is that Jesus had other reasons to heal some and not others.)
- Should that change our views on Jesus’ emotions? (His emotions are tempered by other considerations, just like a wise parent.)
- I just learned that California spent 24 billion dollars over the last five years on combating the homeless problem. The number of homeless went up. What should that teach us about compassion? (Like Jesus, we need to consider how best to show love. One commentator who has spent considerable time talking to the homeless says the problem exists mainly due to drug and alcohol fueled mental illness. He says these kinds of homeless should be given the choice between jail and rehabilitation so they will be cured.)
- Friend, God loves you like a good parent. His emotions are guided by His wisdom. Will you ask the Holy Spirit to bring your emotions more in line with God’s emotions?
- Next week: The Wrath of Divine Love.