"The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;
And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;"
Moses 7:32-33
This is the beginning of the Lord's explanation to Enoch when he asks "How is it that thou canst weep?" The eventual answer is that he is weeping because some of his creations were going to suffer, at least temporarily, until Christ came (Moses 7:37-40).
What really strikes me about this part is how clear it is that God cares for us. Enoch's question was a good one. God has everything to infinity, so many other things and places and beings to care for, but he was still really sad about the ones that were choosing evil, and who were going to suffer for a time before Christ came to redeem them.
What I think with all of this is that none of us really understand love, and we don't understand God either. When God asks "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?" and then says "yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee" (Isaiah 49:15) I think he is explaining, as he is trying to explain to Enoch here, that no matter what else eternity and Godhood hold, it doesn't lessen his love as a father for his children... and it isn't a scattered and thin love that can be broken or cut off. It is stronger and more pure than even the strongest love that we know.
We think of God as overwhelmingly strong and powerful because that's what we look for in a masculine superpower, but God is so much more than we expect. He also has superpowered compassion and love. He is beyond our societal image of what a role model should be, but is a better role model for all that, because in God is the perfection of every good aspect we find of any gender role, of any strata of society, of any ideal of nature even. He helps us learn to let go of the world's rules and live by his rules. His perfect love isn't weak. He cries because he is honestly sad when we harm ourselves by working against him, not because he is emotionally compromised. No one can manipulate him becasue he loves by claiming that they won't love him UNLESS... he knows that line and how empty it is. His love is always striving to teach us and help make us better rather than helping us destroy ourselves.
Today, let's take a moment to reconsider how we think about God, and see if we can picture him both as perfectly strong and perfectly compassionate... because he is both, and so much more. He can help us, and he wants to. Let's trust that, and reach out to him for help today with our questions and our challenges. Let's open our hearts to him and learn of him. Nothing in the world can change our lives more.
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