June 4th

June 4th -- Jonah 3:1-4:11 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%203:1-4:11&version=NLT)

Go read this passage, please!

This passage is fascinating. It takes a situation and brings out something unexpected, using that to teach us. Nineveh, upon being warned, repents and is not punished. God forgives them and lets it go. Jonah is furious about that. Suddenly now his prediction won't happen, rendering him incorrect. He also wonders why he had to come all the way out there to be a good example just to see them not get punished, as he feels they should. Then the whole thing with the tree and worm happens. This leaves God to remind Jonah he has nothing to be mad over, since it was never something he put anything into or was in control of.
Do you ever have times where you act good, and go and tell somebody they shouldn't be doing something, because you, as the "good kid" have to tell them they're gonna' end up in the office, for example, if they don't stop. They get caught, though, still. However, they immediately apologize and seem genuinely upset when they apologize. They seem sincere, so the person who caught them lets them off the hook. It can be frustrating, right? You wonder why you can't just get off the hook like they did. That's sort of like Jonah's situation. He was frustrated they didn't get the punishment that he  felt they deserved, like we can be frustrated when they don't get punishment we  feel they deserve. However, like Jonah we need to remember that it's not our decision and not up to us - they are God's children not ours, so we need to recognize He has final say, and it is not to be questioned by us. We need to remember, sometimes, I think, that without mercy, we'd all be condemned to hell, so we should want for others to receive mercy as we have received mercy.

That's all for tonight! God bless! Shalom!