A Gracious God and Merciful
Jonah finally became fully transparent after God relented of sending judgment on Nineveh. He got angry with God, because God was gracious and merciful. Why would Jonah do that? The answer is simple. It was because Jonah was not gracious and merciful toward the people of Nineveh. He hated them, and he wanted to see them destroyed, not forgiven. That is why he got on the ship to flee to Tarshish. Jonah knew that God just might find a reason to forgive them because of His grace and mercy. (Jonah 4:2) It is a seriously flawed heart condition for God's children to be opposite of what our Lord is, when we are supposed to be like Him.
God is gracious in that He always gives us more than we deserve. He is merciful to us in that He does not punish us as much as we deserve. God is also slow to anger. He does not go into a rage in a few seconds. God is abounding in steadfast love. He always loves us, no matter what we do. Finally, our God is One who will relent from bringing disaster on a place or a group of people, even after He has proclaimed His message of judgment. He will change His mind, when we change our attitude and our actions, if that is the right thing.
Now, how many of us have those character qualities? Jonah did not have them, so God had to teach him two difficult lessons. I pray that we all will allow the Spirit to build these qualities into our lives, so we will not have to go through anything like the lessons of Jonah, but we can receive the favor of God on our lives.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Micah 1-3.
God is gracious in that He always gives us more than we deserve. He is merciful to us in that He does not punish us as much as we deserve. God is also slow to anger. He does not go into a rage in a few seconds. God is abounding in steadfast love. He always loves us, no matter what we do. Finally, our God is One who will relent from bringing disaster on a place or a group of people, even after He has proclaimed His message of judgment. He will change His mind, when we change our attitude and our actions, if that is the right thing.
Now, how many of us have those character qualities? Jonah did not have them, so God had to teach him two difficult lessons. I pray that we all will allow the Spirit to build these qualities into our lives, so we will not have to go through anything like the lessons of Jonah, but we can receive the favor of God on our lives.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Micah 1-3.