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31 - The Divine Reasoning

  Jonah 4:10-11 - “But the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant for which you have not laboured, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night, and should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right and their left – and much livestock?’” “But the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant for which you have not laboured, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night…” In our last devotion we looked at how Jonah preferred death when the Lord removed the plant that offered him shade from the heat of the sun. We looked at how the Lord asked him whether he had a right to think the way he did about the plant and how Jonah had answered in the affirmative, adding that he even had the right to be angry to the point of preferring death to life. Today we’re going to look at the Lord’s response to Jonah – a thought-provoking response that left him
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30 - The Third Death Wish

Jonah 4:8b-9 – “Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” The heat of the day was undoubtedly quite unbearable, but it’s sad to know that the only option Jonah could think of to deal with the situation he was in was that of a defeatist. He could have done other things like returning to Nineveh and taken shelter from the heat; he could have tried building another shelter or something more creative but instead, he wished he could end it all and die.   How often we’ve either heard of someone talk this way or more closer to home, have we thought this way? Instead of making every attempt to change the situation one is in, the only seemingly available solution is to end one’s life. We know that this is not the solution

29 - The Divine Withdrawal

Jonah 4:7-8 : “But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. 8 And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint.” But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. In the previous devotion, we saw how the Lord prepared a plant to provide shade for Jonah but now we read of quite an opposite scenario. In the morning when Jonah awoke, something strange began to happen. One can imagine the restful sleep Jonah had that night, waking up refreshed, only to be met with a surprise he least expected - the plant that he was so grateful for was beginning to wither before his very eyes. But How? The same God who made miraculous provision and offered protection for Jonah had now prepared something else – a worm. This worm began to do something rather strange and disastrous - it damaged the plant so badly that th

28 - The Divine Deliverance Again

  # 28 - The Divine Deliverance Again   Jonah 4:6:   "And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.”   “And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah…” Though Jonah had prepared a shelter for himself, God decided to prepare a plant to cover him. Perhaps the shelter that Jonah had prepared for himself was not good enough to protect him from the heat of the sun, so God miraculously provided a plant to protect him. How kind of the Lord to protect a person who in anger is questioning his act of mercy on the people of Nineveh. This reminds us of the time when Adam and Eve made coverings for themselves to hide their shame after they rebelled against God’s commandment to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their covering was not good enough, so the Lord covered them with tunics of skin and clothed them

27 - The Second Rebellion

  The Second Rebellion Jonah 4:5 : “Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade, and waited to see what would happen to the city.” “Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city…” No sooner than Jonah has this second conversation with God and is asked by God, “Is it right for you to be angry?” does he hit the road again. We’ve heard the axiom, "It’s either my way or the highway.” This seems like the policy of Jonah in this particular story – when things don’t go his way, he hits the highway literally. He leaves Nineveh – the city he preaches against - the city that whole-heartedly repented of their sin. He leaves this city and finds a place to sit down.  Jonah was a man just like us, with rebellion imbibed in his bones. The last time he ran was when the Lord first commissioned Him to go and preach against Nineveh. Here we see him running once again. Just as running needs a break, so also running awa

26 - The Prophet's Lamenting

  # 26 – The Prophet’s Lamenting Jonah 4:1-4 – “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 2 So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. 3 Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” 4 Then the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry….”  Jonah preached, and the King and the people repented. When they repented, God relented from sending on them the punishment He had planned. When God relented, Jonah lamented. The first reaction by Jonah to God relenting was that of exceeding displeasure and anger. Those are perhaps two of the least expected emotions from a man of God in response to God relenting on pouring out his wrath on peo

25 - The Divine Relenting

  The Divine Relenting Jonah 3:10 – “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.” “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way…” In Jonah 1:2, God had told Jonah that the wickedness of the people of Nineveh had come up before the Lord. This means that the Lord was aware of their wickedness and hence sent Jonah with the message of warning of impending judgment. Here we see a similar, yet different thing that the Lord was aware of – He saw their works, that they turned from their evil way.  Many of us have grown up with a warped or lopsided understanding of God – that He is constantly watching us to see where and when we do wrong so he can punish or chastise us for the wrong-doing. We grew up with an impression of God as being stern and angry, who was not capable of love at all. That’s so far from the truth though.  God is loving, holy, just mercifu