”Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble. Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.
And the Lord said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. So may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?”“
Jonah 4:6-7, 10-11 CSB
We open this chapter thinking we should be celebrating because the ENTIRE CITY repents and is following God. That is amazing and only something God can do. BUT Jonah is angry because God is not destroying these people (his enemies)…God however is patient and gives this illustration to Jonah.
Jonah is so selfish: leaving the comfort of his home was too burdensome, giving his enemy an opportunity to repent make him gag, watching God show mercy on them makes him suicidal and then the shade plant dies and he is filled with vitriol. The only person Jonah cares about is himself.
God, it is amazing that You can use anybody for your purposes. Even people like Jonah, and someone like me. Keep me from my natural desire to be self focused. Help me to care about others like You do and allow me to recognize when selfishness is creeping in so that I can repent. I need You lord or I will follow my own desires and it will look just as ridiculous to others as Jonah looks in this chapter…I want to bring You glory, not bring trials on myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment