GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 4 ~ ~ Jonah 4:9 ~ ~ “Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?…….”

Today we look at every child’s favorite story ~ the prophet Jonah, in Dr. Michael Youssef’s book, “How to Read the Bible.”

JONAH: THE RELUCTANT PROPHET

The book of Jonah contains one of the most famous stories in the Bible.  But even though it is only four chapters long, I wonder how many people truly understand it in detail.  Jonah is filled with perceptive insight into human nature, which has not changed in all the centuries since the book was written.

When God commands Jonah to go to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh and preach against the wickedness of the people, he tries to run away.  He goes to the port town of Jaffa and boards a ship bound for distant Tarshish.  Mid-voyage, a fierce storm rises, threatening to sink the ship.  The sailors cast lots, which point to Jonah as the cause of their peril.  Jonah confesses he is the cause, and urges the sailors to throw him overboard.  Reluctantly, the sailors cast Jonah into the sea – and the storm ceases to blow.  As a result, the sailors are converted to faith in the God of Israel.

Meanwhile, Jonah is swallowed by a gigantic fish and spends three days and three nights in its belly, where he prays to God in his affliction.  God commands the fish to vomit Jonah onto the beach.  Chastened and repentant, Jonah travels to Nineveh, which was probably the largest city in the world at that time.

He preached that, unless the people repented, Nineveh would be overthrown.  Jonah was astonished to see that all the Ninevites from the king on down, repented with prayer, fasting, and sackcloth and ashes.

Annoyed that God had granted grace to the repentant Ninevites, Jonah leaves the city, makes a shelter in the desert, and pouts.  He tells God, “Isn’t this what I said Lord, when I was still at home?  That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing 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.  Now, Lord, take away my life for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:2-3).

Jonah would rather have died than seen the Ninevites live.

God provides a leafy plant to give shade to Jonah – and he loves it!  The next day, God sends a worm to kill the plant – and Jonah is heartbroken and angry to the point of wishing himself dead.  God rebukes Jonah for being heartbroken over the plant while wishing death on more than 120,000 humans in Nineveh.

The story ends with God’s rebuke and confronts us with several questions:

Are we running away from God’s call upon our lives? 

Are we avoiding His command to spread His good news to our family, friends, and neighbors?

Do we care as much about the lost souls around us as we care about our own comfort?

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Isaiah 55:9

…..So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts

2 Cor 5:7

We walk by faith and not by sight

Deuteronomy 29:29

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of the law.

Ps 46:10

Be still and know that I am God

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POEM BY HELEN STEINER RICE

FORTRESS OF FAITH

It’s easy to say “In God we trust” when life is radiant and fair, but the test of faith is only found when there are burdens to bear.

For our claim to faith in the sunshine is really no faith at all, for when roads are smooth and days are bright our need for Gd is so small.

And no one discovers the fullness or the greatness of God’s love unless they have walked in the darkness with only a light from above.

For the faith to endure whatever comes is born of sorrow and trials.  And strengthened only by discipline and nurtured by self-denials.

So be not disheartened by troubles, for trials are the building blocks on which to erect a fortress of faith, secure on God’s ageless rocks.

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From Romans 8:32 by Charles H. Spurgeon

“It is but a small thing for Me, your God, to help you…..I have done more, and I will do more”

Isaiah 58:8

Your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you:  the glory of the Lord shall be your reward. (it shall restore you)

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