Jonah begs God to throw him into the storm. He would rather die than deliver
a message to thousands that would change their lives f.o.r.e.v.e.r.
We are so warped & woofed into our own lives.
"The arrogance of your heart has deceived you."Obadiah 1:3
You who live in the clefts of the rock, the high dwelling places.
Those safe places where everyone wants to live.
But why: If we hold arrogance in our heart,
we will not be at peace wherever we live.
Are we self- obsessed or God-obsessed?
Would it matter where we lived?
Jonah 2:8
"Those who regard vain things,
forsake their faithfulness."
And that was said in the belly of a whale.
Trapped. Confined. Desperate Words.
Jonah summed up his feelings in Psalm 77:3
"I remembered you, O God, and I groaned."
You see, Jonah's desires seemed legitimate.
He longed for his people to be protected from Assyria.
God sends Jonah to the Assyrian capital to help them.
God was silent to Jonah's request for the Assyrians
to get what they deserved.
Jonah was actually opposing the behavior of Assyria.
But ...
"You reduce God to a god who is supposed to submit
to your understanding of what matters most.
You do not discern the lethal self-interest
behind the purposes for which you seek divine approval.
You are wrong to demand My cooperation with your understanding.
I demand your cooperate with Mine." 66LL
That's it.
It's a thought I've been looking for a long time!
God, show us all where we are wrong in what we seek.
When life betrays, hassles, disappoints and
God leaves us at that place,
what does God reveal that I am not seeing?
God will make me holy.
PRAYER FROM PSALMS
O God, as the psalmist bemoans in Psa 77:3, I do the same.
I groan at where You have left me.
Would you open my eyes?
This very day!
Make me
Holy!
God points out Jonah's compassion for a plant over the people of Ninevah. There he was worried more about a plant than lost hearts, and he didn't see a thing wrong with it!
ReplyDeleteAll politics aside, several examples today that seem double-minded, inconsistent to me are those who are sympathetic to animal rights but not for unborn children.
Another is those who fight against immigration solutions, but have sympathy for the poor, orphaned, needy.There are so many more incidents in other areas, but these two came to mind.
Lord, point out the inconsistencies in our lives where we may better love, and wholly live as Your own. Kill our prejudices with love. Fill our hearts with the same Precepts of Truth that You operate under. Where there is hatred, even the smallest part in the hidden places, there is vulnerability to succumb to the devil's wiles. Purify our hearts, Lord. Align and tether them to Yours. Amen.
"You are wrong to demand My cooperation with your understanding.
ReplyDelete