Jonah 4:5 Jonah went 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. 6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
Jonah 4:9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."Jonah 4:10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
I know that you have probably read the story of Jonah 1000 times, but for me there are so many important lessons in this small book of the Bible that I keep going back to it. My favorite chapters are 3 and 4, you know the ones that few people read because Jonah has already been thrown up by the whale. Like most things in life, the lessons in the later part of Jonah are often missed, but not because of the quality of the lesson, but because the text itself is not popular. We as Christians can become guilty of only studying certain parts of the Bible, - i.e. the ones we know, the ones that are easier to understand, the ones that are most obviously related to our lives directly at the moment, the ones that more literature is written for and about - , if we are not careful, but that is not what is on my heart today.
No, what is on my heart today is how many times we are like Jonah when it comes to the good things in our life. We do NOTHING for them. Yes, I know you work, etc but in the end you, nor I, deserve to live as well as we do. We do not deserve to have all that we have. Truthfully, our lives are gifts from God and all the things we have in this life are blessings from the Father. The desires of God is to not give us what we deserve, but instead to give to us out of bounty and bless us with His love.
Understand, I am not teaching a wealth and prosperity gospel here, no not at all. All I am saying is that God desires to give us more then we deserve, and we become so use to it that when we do not get our way we complain. In the end, we enjoy the pleasures that the blessings of God brings to our lives, but when those blessings are not there anymore, or do not come when and how we want them too , then we complain about their disappearance.
That is the thing that I am noting today. While we are enjoying our unearned pleasures and complaining about their removal or our the change in them, we completely miss the larger issues and larger struggles going on around us. We miss those things because they are things that do not directly benefit us. We miss them because they are things that are not important to us. We miss them because they require some additional work on our part, and those are things (time & effort) that we are not willing to give up.
Jonah wanted to see Nineveh destroyed because Nineveh was the local super power that consistently sacked, attacked, and destroyed Jonah's fellow citizens. Jonah's heart was NEVER right toward the Ninevites, yet God still used Jonah anyway. Jonah and God’s use of him at Nineveh is a perfect example of God using His people to bless the world in spite of the attitude and ways of His people. Let's us all pray God never uses us like He used Jonah, i.e. basically in spite of ourselves and our attitude.
Simply, I believe that Jonah is a example of where many Christians are today. Many Christians today, like Jonah, are more involved with personal issues, personal opinions, personal attitudes, personal basis, and personal gain then they are about accomplishing the work and will of God. We Christians, you and me both, get to this place because we allow our personal issues to become larger and more important then they really are, or even should be.
When we are “born into” Christ are suppose to die to self. That means our self, including all our attitudes, views, opinions, etc, are not to be prioritized. Just because we feel a certain way, or because we feel a certain thing, does not mean that it is God's will or His way. Too many times we assume that the world, and all of it's treasures, are here for our personal use and enjoyment, we never consider that there may be other factors larger then ourselves involved. Our selfish sinful heart's, both mine and yours, do not mirror God's will many times, and if we plan to be fruitful in God's plan we must remember that we serve Him, He does not serve us. To put it another way, role reversal is a huge problem within the body of Christ. God is the parent, we are His kids. He knows what is best for us, He knows what we need, He knows what we are struggling with, etc.
So today, let's focus on others, including their needs, and God's plan to use us in lives of others. Let us not assume that the things that we enjoy are deserved, and remember that they are God's and we are just borrowing them. Let us all work at forgetting the past, forgetting our sour attitudes and views, forgetting the wrongs done to us. God forgets and forgives us, we should do the same for others. Overall, I would challenge everyone to be sure that they are not being used of God in spite of themselves, and that there are no "grudges" that we harbor against others that are keeping us from being effective in the kingdom. His stuff, His rules, His plans and His time lead to our success.
Stay strong, be courageous, and serve God in all things.
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If topic sort of builds off a post of ours from a few month's ago - Forgotten Lessons, so if you would like to read some more about oft forgotten Bible lessons give it a read as well
