Scripture: Jonah 4:10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this gourd, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.
Observation: I am not sure whether Jonah ever got over his anger or not or that he was ever sure why God had sent him to a place that made him angry. Poor Jonah--I do like to think that he did realize that God's plan didn't necessarily have to do with his comfort.
Application: I can picture Jonah now after being in the belly of the huge fish three days and nights; the digestive juices working on him and whatever else that was stuck to him as he was upchucked onto the shore. His one sentence sermon: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." He must have been a sight to the people of Nineveh for they did heed God's warning that he delivered.
God's wonderful grace comes to us in mighty strange ways sometimes and there is always that opportunity to come back into the fold because God loves us so much. Sometimes I am like Jonah--I pass judgment to soon and without thought to the future or the past--sorta knee jerky I guess. But in the end, I want to have the grace of God in my thoughts and actions so that I won't be left sitting on the side of hill wondering why the shade is gone.
Prayer: Lord today is a new day in more ways than one, but it is a day that you have made and I am blest to be in it. Help me to have your grace and apply it where I am able and help me not to be so quick to judge. Let me always be in your shade. Thanks for loving me, Stephen
Yieldedness: I will strive not to be small minded and angry about things that don't suite me.
I can feel Jonah's frustration... it's hard sometimes to celebrate God's blessing on folks I have a difficult time dealing with. But then I do have this really BIG God who pours grace upon grace into my life and most days I can be a pretty difficult task for God. So, I appreciate your yieldness--it's a grace-filled goal if I ever saw one! Peace!!
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