Overview of: JonahToday's Reading:
Jonah 3:1 – 4:11
"Jonah's Complaint"
Focus Verses: Jonah 3:10 - 4:4
3:10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. 4:1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." 4 But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
Insight:
It's bad enough that Jonah ran from God's call to preach repentance to the people of Ninevah, but even worse is the reason why he ran. In chapter four, we read that he ran because he knew that God was "gracious and compassionate, slow anger, and abounding in love." Jonah didn't want God to forgive the people of Ninevah! His reason for disobeying was rooted in his antipathy toward the people of Ninevah.
Response and Action:
Is my slowness to serve others ever rooted in my dislike for them? Do I fail to do things God has asked me to do because I don't care about the people it would benefit? Are there people I don't serve because deep inside I don't want God to help them?
O God, save me from misanthropy. You know, O Lord, that I find it hard to care about some people. I realize that it's only by your transforming grace that I will be able to care for them and serve them. Thank you for the unmerited love and care you have given to me. Give me a humble heart that delights in seeing your love and forgiveness extended to everyone. Make me a willing instrument of your love and grace to the lovely and the unlovely. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.
Proverb for Today: Prov. 30:11-14
11 "There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers; 12 those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth; 13 those whose eyes are ever so haughty, whose glances are so disdainful; 14 those whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth, the needy from among mankind.
New Testament for Today: Matthew 25:40
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
In Context: Matthew 25:31-46
Recommended Reading:
Kissing the Leper: Seeing Jesus in the Least of These
by Brad Jersak (Author), Eugene H. Peterson (Foreword), Andy MacPherson (Introduction)
