relationships (Jonah 4:1-11) Love and Forgiveness vs Hatred and Prejudices

(Jonah 4:1-11) 

But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. 2 Then he prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was this not what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore in anticipation of this I fled to Tarshish, since I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, and One who relents of disaster. 3 So now, Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” 4 But the Lord said, “Do you have a good reason to be angry?”

5 Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade, until he could see what would happen in the city. 6 So the Lord God designated a plant, and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head, to relieve him of his discomfort. And Jonah was overjoyed about the plant. 7 But God designated a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered. 8 And when the sun came up God designated a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint, and he begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life!”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to the point of death!” 10 Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant, for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. 11 Should I not also have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 people, who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left, as well as many animals?”

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

I do have to laugh a little here.  I mean, Jonah was angry for very selfish reasons.  And to have his pity-party, he chose to go out and sit and wait and watch the city!  God never told him to do that.  The guy had run away from God, so God helped him "get a little further" in a fish, and now he sought out a spot in order to be miserable, so God helped him along with that as well, with a little heat and wind, and an experiential-illustration-lesson!  

Not only was Jonah holding a grudge against God, but he really had a vengeful hatred in his heart, wanting to see the people of Nineveh completely destroyed.  Perhaps there was also some prejudicial hatred!  And we can see here how hatred and an unforgiving heart develops into bitterness.  What a miserable state to live in!

Even though we all are born with a sin nature, separated from God, because God is holy and cannot have a relationship with sin, God still loves all people!  He created all of us with a purpose, and has a desire that we all come to know Him personally.  This is exactly why He came in flesh to die on the cross, in our place!  So when anyone humbly goes to Him with remorse, for salvation, He forgives all sins and saves us from eternal death, and adopts us as His own children, for all eternity!

We should desire to be exactly like our heavenly Father.  So, because He loves all people, He wants us to love all people!  If our hearts are right with God and aligned with His will... we will not hold grudges!  We will graciously forgive all those who hurt us, because God has forgiven us of all OUR sins!  We will not be vengeful or prejudiced!  We will not have any sort of hatred towards any people!  In fact, we will be praying for our own worst enemies to find salvation!  And then, when and if they become Christians, we will be rejoicing, along with the Lord and all the angels! 

Let's not get all high and mighty with pride!!!  We are no better than anyone else!  Let us pray for all our brothers and sisters in Christ that they grow in the Lord and remain steadfast.  And instead of criticizing each other or waiting for someone to stumble, let us help and encourage one another!  The more aligned we are to Jesus and His word, the more we will be aligned with each other, free of bitterness and hateful, vengeful hearts!

And while all of this is sometimes very difficult to do, we can ask the Lord to forgive others FOR us, and we can ask the Lord to love others FOR us.  He not only can help us in loving and forgiving, but He wants to do all things FOR us.  With God, all things are possible!  So when we ask and allow, God changes our hearts from the inside out, and He will work for us, in us and through us, all in His love, strength and wisdom, all to His glory!