Wednesday 14 September 2011

Read  Jonah 3:10—4:11

Anger Or Applause?

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil ways; and God relented.  -Jonah 3:10

 

How do we read when God shows mercy to people we think deserve punishment?  If we are resentful, it may indicate that we have forgotten how much the Lord has forgiven us.

 

After Jonah followed God’s second call to preach His coming judgement on Nineveh (Jonah 3:1-4). The people of the city turned from their evil lifestyle, so the Lord did not destroy them (v. 10).  God’s mercy made Jonah angry.  He told God he had been afraid this would happen, and that’s why he fled to Tarhish in the first place.  “I know that You are a gracious and merciful God…. One who relents from doing harm” (4:2)

 

But the Lord said to Jonah, “Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more that one hundred and twenty thousand people?” {4:11).

 

God’s marvellous grace is greater than all our sin. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).  Because of His grace to us, we should “be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgives [us]” (4:32).

 

Instead of being angry when God is merciful, we should applaud.  -David McCasland

 

What love the Father has bestowed on me!

For this I canot help but thankful be;

I read Hi word, His promises embrace,

And daily praise Him for His matchless grace.  -Hess

 

We can stop showing mercy to others when Christ stops showing mercy to us.

 

 

Prayer:

V Pray for the Jurassic Ark ministry through Creation Research.  Pray that funds will pour in to enable this ministry to do it’s work for God.

V Pray for the Jurassic Ark, Gympie, as they are now reopened after the flood damage.