Bible in 90, Day 66: Jonah asked for it, Nahum got it

Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk

image courtesy of matthains at stock.xchng

Five prophets, one day – that’s what I’m talking about!  The longer I do it, the more I love the Bible in 90 Days Challenge!

VeggieTales has a great song at the end of their Jonah movie.  The chorus goes something like this:

Jonah was a prophet, ooo ooo!

But he really never go it, sad but true!

If you’ve been watchin’ you can spot it!  A doodely doo!

He did not get the point!

They make a great point, those signing vegetables.  God sent Jonah on a mission of mercy to call Assyria to repentance by preaching God’s coming wrath to its capital Nineveh.  You know the story – God calls boy, boy runs away, boy gets on boat, other boys through boy off the boat, fish eats boy – your basic ingredients for an awesome Sunday School lesson or feature film.  While in the belly of the great fish (the Bible never calls it a whale), Jonah repents and God commands the fish to spit him up onto dry land.  Jonah receives the mercy he wasn’t willing to offer the Assyrians.

Jonah keeps his word and preaches to Nineveh.  Based on his actions in chapter 4, it seems that he was hoping his preaching would not be heeded by the Ninevites, but it was.  The king himself repented and commanded the people to seek God’s forgiveness.  God sees their turning away from sin and toward Him and forgives them, not bringing the disaster He had threatened.  After receiving mercy from God himself, you’d think that he would rejoice at the repentance of Nineveh and God’s great mercy toward the people.

Instead, Jonah’s ticked!

He’s actually angry that God made him preach to Nineveh because he knew that God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love (4:2)!  He gets all suicidal and mopey, crying over the death of his shade tree/weed.  It’s funny, we normally leave the story of Jonah right after people repent, because this is the happy ending.  But where the Holy Spirit leaves the story is with Jonah whining and God telling him how messed up it is that he’s crying over the death of a plant but doesn’t care about the lives of over 120,000 people in Nineveh.  For Jonah, God’s forgiveness just wasn’t fair.  The Assyrians were just too wicked to forgive.

Later on, Assyria turned back to its wicked ways and God send Nahum to preach their coming destruction.  Because of their endless cruelty (3:19), God wiped them out with the Babylonians.  Many of the atrocities that the Assyrians had subjected other cities to during their hey day were brought into the walls of Nineveh.  The scene is horrific, but is very much the same as what they had done throughout the years to other nations.  Because they did not turn to God this time, His judgment, not His mercy, fell on Nineveh.

What Jonah asked for, Nahum got to see.

Is it right for us to expect God to hold others to a different standard than we hold ourselves to?  Paul tells us that we are to forgive as we have been forgiven (Ephesians 4:32).  Our sins against God are much greater than any sin someone could commit against us.  For that matter, if God forgives someone, how can we withhold our forgiveness from them?  Are we more offended than God?  God tells us that we don’t have to worry because ultimately He will settle all accounts (Romans 12:19).  This was true of Assyria – in the end they got what they deserved.  Each of us will stand before God and give an account, and if we don’t have the forgiveness of Christ we will be punished accordingly.

Let’s not put ourselves above God’s judgment by withholding forgiveness from those who’ve wronged us.  Let’s be willing to forgive, and not presumptuous about our own right to be forgiven.  Let’s learn the lesson that Jonah didn’t: God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy (Romans 9:15; Exodus 33:19).

originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 64: Did she ever say, “Shazam!”?

Daniel 9-Hosea 14

image courtesy of xymonau at stock.xchng

I married the most amazing woman I’ve ever known on June 7, 2003.  Since that time, we have prayed that God would glorify Himself through our marriage and through our family.  We want to have a home that displays God’s glory.  Keelie and I want our marriage to accurately reflect the relationship to Christ and the church as much as is possible within our limitations as fallen people.  In this way, we hope that our marriage and family are a picture of the gospel to everyone we meet.

God had a different plan for Hosea’s family.  He commanded Hosea to take an adulterous woman, Gomer, as his wife.  He then had him give his three children names that reflected the coming judgment of God.  When Gomer chased after other men, God had Hosea go and redeem her and bring her back into his home.  Hosea continued to show love to a woman who blatantly abused his love.

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

Much like Ezekiel, God used Hosea’s life and actions to paint a vivid picture for Israel.  Hosea’s marriage to Gomer represented God’s relationship to Israel.  Just as Gomer chased after other men and committed adultery with them, so Israel had chased after other gods to commit spiritual adultery with them.  Just as Hosea remained faithful to Gomer and even wooed her back, so God continued to love Israel, calling her back to repentance.

God’s love for His people is greater than we can imagine.  Many of us would not fault Hosea if he had forsaken his adulterous wife and started over again with a woman who really loved him.  But God deliberately put Hosea into this position to demonstrate the depths of His love and the lengths to which He will go to bring a wayward sinner back into His love.  I believe that marriages can be saved more often than we give them a chance to be saved, but God’s love is greater than even the love of a man and wife.  His love is faithful and endures forever (1 Chronicles 16:34, etc.).

Let’s never forget the depths of God’s love.  Let’s remember that no matter how unfaithful we’ve been, if we turn back to Him, He will show His love and forgiveness for us again.  Let’s also remember that God expects us to show that same love to others.  If we’ve experienced the grace and forgiveness of God for all of our sin, how can we withhold forgiveness from someone who has wronged us (Matthew 18:21-35)?

couldn’t resist the Gomer Pyle references! 😉

originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 58: He stands ready

Jeremiah 48 – Lamentations 5

*image courtesy of lcs9 at stock.xchng

A small note before we start, I’ve deviated somewhat from the reading plan today.  I couldn’t stand to do just one of the five chapters of Lamentations, so I actually did all five.  This will be reflected in today’s devotional.

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  ~ Lamentations 3:22-23

The verse may seem a little out of place in today’s reading.  We read about the terrible judgment that fell on Jerusalem, with all the horrible tragedies that resulted.  We are in the midst of thinking about the wrath of God and the suffering of the people of Israel, and then we come across these verses.  How is it that Jeremiah could say that God had great love for His people, and that His compassions are new every morning?  Were they new the morning the Babylonians invaded and carried away hundreds of people into exile?  Were they new when people were starving to death during the siege?  How can God be seen as renewing His compassion and mercy every morning if one morning He brings destruction?

Just because God’s compassion is new every morning does not mean that everyday is an automatic do-over.

Did you have do-overs when you were a kid?  You goof up in kickball and call “Do over!”  The ball hits too close to the line in foursquare, no one can agree on the call… “Do over!”  Sometimes we expect God to grant automatic do-overs.  But it’s not quite like that.

At any point, the people of Jerusalem could have repented and God would have forgiven them.  God sent messenger after messenger to plead with the people to do just that.  They refused to listen, even killing the messengers God sent.  As we saw yesterday, they continued to reject the message even after witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem.  Through it all, God stood ready to forgive His wayward people.

Just like the dew that falls fresh every morning, so God’s compassion and mercy are fresh every morning.  But God’s mercy being new everyday doesn’t make our sin go away.  It doesn’t mean that God has amnesia every morning.  It means that everyday is a new opportunity to turn back to God.  If we don’t seek God’s forgiveness we won’t receive it.  But if we turn from our sin, and return to God, his mercy is new every morning and He stands ready to forgive us.

Let’s never take God forgiveness or mercy for granted.  His grace is not something we deserve, but something He gives out His own love.  Let’s never assume that our sins are forgiven each new day.  Let’s remember to confess our sins, trusting that He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us (1 John 1:9).  Let’s awake each day, knowing that if we have confessed our sins, they are behind us, and today is a new day to walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7).

*originally at Words of Reason