As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
Compassion is a specific word — it's not the same as approval, and it's not the same as indifference. It means something closer to "moved in the gut by someone's suffering." This verse says that's how God relates to people, using the most ordinary comparison available: a father with his kids.
Most of us know what that looks like even if our own fathers got it wrong. A good father doesn't need his child to explain why they're crying to feel something when they see it. He doesn't require the situation to make perfect sense before he leans in. That instinct — protective, tender, unbothered by whether it's deserved — is the image this verse reaches for.
If your picture of God has mostly been a distant judge or an abstract force, this is worth sitting with as an alternative: not less serious, but far warmer. Compassion, aimed at you specifically, whether or not you've earned it.
If you've wondered whether God actually feels anything toward you rather than just judging from a distance, that's worth looking into honestly.
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.