Psalm 103:13 NKJV
As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
The Heart of a Father
MY NOTES
“As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him.” — Psalm 103:13, NKJV
To truly understand who God is, we don’t look to stone cold monuments or abstract philosophies. Instead, Scripture invites us to look at a relationship we can see and feel: the love of a tender parent. In Psalm 103:13, David paints a beautiful picture of our Creator, revealing that our best conceptions of God come from carrying out our highest ideas of the parental character.
God wants you to think of Him as a Father—tender, attentive, and quick to show compassion. Not a cold judge, not a distant force, but a present Parent whose heart moves toward His children. David says God “pities” (has deep compassion on) those who fear Him—that is, those who revere, trust, and love Him with a childlike, filial awe.
The word used here for “pities” is actually rooted in deep, maternal and paternal compassion. It speaks of a gut-level tenderness. If you are a parent, you know exactly what this feels like. When your child is in pain, your heart cuts to the quick. If you could, you would gladly jump in and suffer in their place. David tells us that our heavenly Father is even more sensitive to our hurts than the best earthly parent could ever be.
Think of a good father:
- He bends low to teach a child’s simple heart.
- He bears with immaturity and stubbornness.
- He forgives quickly when confession comes.
- He comforts when the child is sick or sad.
- He helps them up when they stumble.
- He defends when others harm them.
- He calms their fears and carries their burdens.
This is how the Lord treats you—only infinitely more. His compassion is not occasional; it’s continuous. Even when He knows your trials will refine you, He still pities you in the pain. Even when discipline is necessary, it comes from mercy, not from irritation. He understands your frame and remembers that you are dust (Psalm 103:14). His pity meets you in your ignorance, weakness, foolishness, naughtiness, stumbles, wounds, and fears.
This incredible compassion is directed toward “those who fear Him.” As the commentaries remind us, this is not a servile, terrified fear—the kind of fear that keeps you hiding in the closet away from an angry tyrant. It is a filial fear. It is the deep reverence of a child who loves their Father so much that they simply don’t want to break His heart. We do not serve a God of stone. We serve the living God, who is tenderness itself, looking down on our frames with adopting, redeeming, and ever-flowing grace.
Jesus revealed His Father-heart in the parable of the prodigal: the father runs, embraces, clothes, restores (Luke 15:20–24). That’s the posture of the Lord toward repentant hearts. And because Jesus is our merciful High Priest, He not only represents the Father’s compassion—He feels it with us and for us.
So come to Him today as a child: honest, needy, unafraid. Your Father is already moving toward you.
Prayer
Abba, thank You for being a true Father to me. I am so grateful that You look at my life not with cold scrutiny, but with the deep compassion of a loving parent. Thank You for bearing with my childish weakness, my foolishness, and my frequent stumbles. Forgive me for the times I view You as a harsh critic rather than a tender Dad. Today, I rest in the fact that You are pitying and loving me in this very moment. I thank You for this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Key Takeaways
- Continuous Compassion: God’s pity isn’t a one-time event; it is an active, present-tense reality happening right now.
- A Tender Father: God relates to us as a good parent who feels our pain, instructs our ignorance, and heals our hurts.
- Filial Reverence: The “fear” that unlocks this intimacy is a respectful, child-like awe, not a paralyzing terror.
- Present Comfort in Pain: Even when God allows trials for our growth, His heart deeply sympathizes with the discomfort we feel along the way.
Cross References (NKJV)
- Matthew 7:11: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
- Luke 15:20: “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”
- Isaiah 66:13: “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
- Hebrews 4:15: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Things to Think About
- When you pray, do you naturally view God as a tender Father who pities you, or as a distant judge?
- Look over the list of ways a father pities his children (childish weakness, fears, stumbles, pain). Which of these areas do you need to hand over to Your heavenly Father’s care today?
- The devotional notes that even though God knows your trials will work out for your ultimate good, He still pities your current groans. How does it make you feel to know God cares about your temporary discomfort?
- When have you experienced God’s fatherly compassion after failure? Describe what He showed you about His heart.
Proverb for Today
He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.Proverbs 18:13 NKJV
Daily Scripture
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14 NKJV
Closing
“The Lord bless you and keep you;The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’ Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV
Grace be with you. Amen.
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Summary of Commentaries:
Psalm 103:13 highlights God’s deep, fatherly compassion for those who revere Him. Commentators emphasize that His pity is an active, ongoing reality. Like a perfect parent, God patiently guides our ignorance, bears with our weaknesses, and forgives our failures. He comforts us in pain, defends us from wrong, and lifts us when we fall. This cross-cultural, child-like relationship offers profound comfort, remaining eternally secured through Jesus Christ, our deeply sympathetic High Priest.
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.” To those who truly reverence his holy name, the Lord is a father and acts as such. These he pities, for in the very best of men the Lord sees much to pity, and when they are at their best state they still need his compassion. This should check every propensity to pride, though at the same time it should yield us the richest comfort. Fathers feel for their children, especially when they are in pain, they would like to suffer in their stead, their sighs and groans cut them to the quick: thus sensitive towards us is our heavenly Father. We do not adore a god of stone, but the living God, who is tenderness itself. He is at this moment compassionating us, for the word is in the present tense; his pity never fails to flow, and we never cease to need it.
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Enduring Word
The LORD pities those who fear Him: David continues to describe the abounding mercy and goodness of God. The way that a good father cares for and even pities his children in their frailty and weakness, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. (Guzik)
i. We think of a loving father dealing with his tired children. He does not demand more of them than they can perform, but with care takes into account their weaknesses. He comforts them and measures his expectations according to his wisdom and compassion. (Guzik)
ii. Spurgeon considered the many ways God may pity His children:
· He pities our childish ignorance.
· He pities our childish weakness.
· He pities our childish foolishness.
· He pities our childish naughtiness.
· He pities our childish stumbles and falls.
· He pities the pain of His children.
· He pities the child when another has wronged him.
· He pities the fears of His children.
iii. “It is in the present tense, and carries the idea of continuity: at this very moment he is now pitying them that fear him. Though he knows your trials will work for your good, yet he pities you. Though he knows that there is sin in you, which, perhaps, may require this rough discipline ere you be sanctified, yet he pities you. Though he can hear the music of heaven, the songs and glees that will ultimately come of your present sighs and griefs, yet still he pities those groans and wails of yours.” (Spurgeon)
iv. “We may lose ourselves amid the amplitudes of the lofty, wide-stretching sky, but this emblem of paternal love goes straight to our hearts. A pitying God! What can be added to that?” (Maclaren)
v. The wise reaction to this is, fear the LORD! How much better to be on the side of His pity and compassion than to be on the side of His anger or righteous judgment! (Guzik)
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Albert Barnes
Like as a father pitieth his children – Hebrew, “Like the compassion of a father for his children.” See the notes at Matthew 7:7-11. God often compares himself with a father, and it is by carrying out our ideas of what enters into the parental character that we get our best conceptions of the character of God. See the notes at Matthew 6:9. That which is referred to here, is the natural affection of the parent for the child; the tender love which is borne by the parent for his offspring; the disposition to care for its needs; the readiness to forgive when an offense has been committed. Compare Luke 15:22-24. Such, in an infinitely higher degree, is the compassion – the kindness – which God has for those that love him.
So the Lord pitieth them that fear him – He has compassion on them. He exercises toward them the paternal feeling.
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John Gill
Like as a father pitieth his children,…. When in any affliction, disorder, or distress: the Lord stands in the relation of a Father to his people; they are his children by adopting grace, through the covenant of grace with them; by a sovereign act of his own will he puts them among the children, predestinates them to the adoption of children; and sends his Son to redeem them, that they might receive it, and his Spirit to bear witness to their spirits, that they are his children; and towards these he has all the affections of a tender parent.
So the Lord pitieth them that fear him; not with a servile fear, which is unsuitable to the relation of children; but with reverence and godly fear, with a fear of him and his goodness, and on account of that; a filial fear, such a reverence as children should have of a father: and this character belongs to all the saints of all nations, Jews or Gentiles; and seems to be here given an purpose to include all; and that the divine pity and compassion might not be thought to be restrained to any particular nation. And, as the fruit of his tender mercy, he looks upon his children in their lost estate, and brings them out of it; he succours them under all their temptations; he sympathizes with them under all their afflictions: being full of compassion, he forgives their iniquities; and in the most tender manner receives them when they have backslidden, and heals their backslidings. The Targum in the king of Spain’s Bible is, “so the Word of the Lord pities,” &c. See Hebrews 4:15.
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Matthew Henry
Whom he pities-those that fear him, that is, all good people, who in this world may become objects of pity on account of the grievances to which they are not only born, but born again. Or it may be understood of those who have not yet received the spirit of adoption, but are yet trembling at his word; those he pities, Jer. 31:18, 20.
How he pities-as a father pities his children, and does them good as there is occasion. God is a Father to those that fear him and owns them for his children, and he is tender of them as a father. The father pities his children that are weak in knowledge and instructs them, pities them when they are froward and bears with them, pities them when they are sick and comforts them (Isa. 66:13), pities them when they have fallen and helps them up again, pities them when they have offended, and, upon their submission, forgives them, pities them when they are wronged and gives them redress; thus the Lord pities those that fear him.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“The Load pitieth.” Though it be commonly said, “It is better to be envied, than pitied;” yet here it is not so: but it is a far happier thing to be pitied of God, than to be envied of men.
—Sir R. Baker.
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