Encouragement Study: Edition #19

Apathy (noun):

• Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.
• Lack of emotion or feeling; impassiveness.
• Absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement.
• Lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting.

Empathy (noun):

• The intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.
• The imaginative ascribing to an object, as a natural object or work of art, feelings or attitudes present in oneself.
• Identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives.
• The attribution of one's own feelings to an object.

Sympathy (noun):

• Harmony of or agreement in feeling, as between persons or on the part of one person with respect to another.
• The harmony of feeling naturally existing between persons of like tastes or opinion or of congenial dispositions.
• The fact or power of sharing the feelings of another, esp. in sorrow or trouble; fellow feeling, compassion, or commiseration.

Psalm 72:1-19

Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor. He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations. He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more. He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts. All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him. For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long. Let grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. Let its fruit flourish like Lebanon; let it thrive like the grass of the field. May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed. Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.

-Taking pity is a quality of God. If you take pity on someone, you are not being apathetic, but empathetic and sympathetic. Does God want me to oppress others? Does God want me to help others? Let's just assume that God wants me to help others. If I express empathy and sympathy toward others, I am expressing a form of encouragment. And encouraging others is a great