READING: Jonah 1-4, Revelation 10
“The Lord asked, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’”
Jonah 4:4
Jonah ran from Nineveh and toward Tarshish because he did not want God to forgive the Ninevites: “That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that You are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to become angry, rich in faithful love, and One who relents from sending disaster” (Jonah 4:2). The people of Nineveh were archenemies to the people of God, and Jonah had no interest in their being forgiven.
The problem was that Jonah served a God who is much more compassionate than the prophet had ever considered being—and who has always wanted the nations to give glory to His name. Jonah, in fact, never fully got over God’s willingness to forgive, and the book that carries his name ends with the prophet in a state of anger and frustration. He accepted God’s gracious forgiveness offered to him, but he did not want that same forgiveness offered to his enemies.
This book to which we often go to talk about God’s heart for the nations is thus also a book that slices open the heart of the reader. Who are the individual persons or the peoples of the world that I may not want God to save? Is it an ethnic group? People who commit particular sins? Someone who has hurt me or my family? Followers of another world faith?
If I have no immediate response to that question, perhaps the better question is, “Who are the folks that I can accept God’s saving them—but only after they’ve paid a price for their sinful actions toward me or others?” If we put our own parameters on God’s grace for others, we really haven’t let His grace change us much.
ACTION STEPS:
- Answer the question about whether there are those you don’t want God to forgive.
- If someone comes to mind, ask God’s forgiveness and help. Ask Him to change your heart.
PRAYER: “Lord, transform me if I’m in any way like Jonah.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Micah 1-3, Revelation 11