The Church Called Jonah

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 solu...

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   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 an...