What Are We Running To?
Good Morning Friends,
Jonah had a bad case of unhealthy emotional spirituality. Jonah was disobedient and of a faultfinding, complaining disposition and yet he is not to be taken lightly. We learn from him about how God puts us back on the right track when we are distressed in attitude and outlook. But we might not necessarily be striving for the right goal. So today we are seekers of do overs… of second chances… and of forgiveness. But what of tomorrow? If we try to pry our hands off the worthless things of the world we may react negatively. We need to move toward the joy of the Kingdom. If we are trying to escape our responsibility to do God’s will, we foolishly we will be missing the mark, we will be missing the joy of His Way, we will be
missing out on grace. We have to decide what we are seeking.
We are confused on the journey. So, What Are We Running To?
Scripture: The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying,”Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.
Jonah 3:1-4:5 (NRSV)
Message: What would you think if I said that the prophet Jonah was hard-hearted, unloving and maybe even a racist? Would that offend you? It really should not, given the facts. He is a lot like the Levite priest who walk past the man half dead in the story of the Good Samaritan. God had a plan for Jonah but Jonah wanted to write his own plan for his life. We have often overlooked the heart of Jonah and often portrayed him as a man of God who was reluctant to follow the call of God on his life, but later a man who changes his mind, is used of God and becomes the hero of the story. But if we really look into the scripture we will see a much different picture. Jonah was not the hero of the story—God was. Jonah was, in reality, the villain. The people of Nineveh were the ones who repented. Given the facts about Jonah’s attitude we might wonder why God would even use him for such a mission. After all, there were other prophets that God could have sent to deliver the message. In fact, when Jonah ran from the mission it could have been that he was hoping that God would send someone else to preach to the people that he evidently disliked so much. What does stand out in the story is that Jonah was a man of contradictions. He was a man filled with hate while preaching God’s love. He was seeking judgment for others while desiring mercy for himself. He was a failure in his successes.
Maybe here is the gem. Friends, if we cling to worthless things of the world we forfeit the joy of the Kingdom. If we are trying to escape our responsibility to do God’s will, we foolishly we will be missing the mark, we will be missing the joy of His Way, we will be missing out on grace.
Pray with praise for our God who gives us a second chance when we have sinned. Pray
we have more compassion than words. Pray we draw near to God. Pray we do not let our emotions deprive us of grace. Pray that we meditate on God’s ways and ask Him to change our hearts. Pray we run to, not away from God. Pray we call upon Him in our day of trouble. Pray that He deliver us. Pray that we glorify Him in response. Pray we see the possibilities in the tension between embracing a mission and evading it, between compassion and disgust, between the desire for mercy and the desire for justice. Pray we find truth in repentance and the compassion of second chances. Pray we be compassionate to one another for it helps us to understand what is going on inside others. Pray we break the cycle of anger and forgive each other. Pray we understand that forgiveness is not easy but is also not optional. Pray we understand that forgiveness in not a guarantee of closure. Pray we forgive because we have been forgiven. Pray we demonstrate hope in the resurrection through our actions in tough times. Pray we actually care for others and not be simply thankful for our own salvation. Pray we are interested in people who are different from ourselves. Pray that God erase the prejudice on our hearts. Pray that in tough times we learn to love people that are different from us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 