Title: The Compassionate God
Contents
♡♥♡ Caring God / Jonah 4:1-11
*** Introduction
He had an honest prophet in his heart. He was a foolish prophet who was honest in his heart, but ignorant of the will of the God he served. He was also a courageous prophet who complained and opposed what God had done. Did I say, ‘If you are ignorant, you are brave’?
If it were us, we would have shouted, ‘Put it away!’, but God comforted such a prophet, made him realize it, and used it to the end. The words of the text depict the image of God who kindly awakens the prophet Jonah who complains and fights. We want to feel God's kind and warm love for us in these words, and examine how we should do God's work.
As the first missionary in China, there was a missionary named ‘Hudson Taylor’ who opened the door to Chinese missions. While he was doing missionary work, he returned to his home country to recruit missionaries to work with him. After hearing the news, many aspiring missionaries gathered. Missionary Hudson interviewed the inquirers one by one.
“Why do you want to go to China as a missionary?”
The aspirants' answers varied. “It is to save many poor souls in China.”, “I have to change China and lead it to the civilized world, but for that, I think that missions must be done first.”, “I am going to go for the glory of God. do” and so on. Missionary Hudson heard the answer,
“All of these are good ideas. But they alone are not enough. Those motives alone do not lead to missionaries.
Said. Then one of the aspirants asked.
“Why did you become a missionary?”
At that time, Missionary Hudson made a famous statement.
“I love Chinese people. I became a missionary solely because of love.”
‘Because of love!’ It sounds like a popular song, but it is because of love that God saved us, and it must be because of love that we do God’s work.
However, we see that the prophet Jonah, who appeared as the main character of the text, is full of selfishness and revenge. God, the director, makes us look back at ourselves doing God's work in this age through this image.
1. He makes people's universal heart known.
Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was full of iniquity and was in danger of being judged by God. God called the prophet Jonah and sent him to Nineveh, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and shout against it. for their wickedness has come up before me.” In other words, we must shout, “Repent, for the judgment of God is near because of your sins.” But Jonah disobeyed God's command and fled toward Tarshish, the other side. Because Assyria is Israel's enemy, it does not want to be saved, but rather to be judged and destroyed.
In this way, it is the common mind of people to hope that the enemy who is trying to torment and kill them does not go well and that they will perish. Perhaps not many want the enemy to do well. Wouldn't it be plausible that those who oppose me will be judged by God for their sins, saying, 'You harassed me, but I'm suing you'.
God realizes that this kind of heart is not the proper management of a Christian's heart. So he blocked Jonah's way. When we plan and manage certain things, there are times when the road does not prosper and gets blocked. In such a case, do not force yourself to do so, but stop for a while and ask God's will. These stories are recorded in detail in the Bible. Even when Paul went to Asia for evangelism, it must be remembered that the road was blocked because it was not God's will.
However, Jonah did not come to his senses even after he got mad. Even after shouting to Nineveh to ‘repent’, he didn’t like God’s command, so he became angry and resisted. Then he sat on a hill overlooking Nineveh and waited to see Nineveh's destruction.
I don't know if God has expressed people's hearts in such detail. This is us humans. Aren't we going through a lot of these things in our life of faith? God was not angry with Jonah's reaction, but he prepared another thing to make him understand.
2. He makes the heart of God known.
God made the ship shipwreck for Jonah, who disobeyed the command and fled, and prepared a large fish to swallow Jonah. This is not to harass Jonah, but to help Jonah understand the will of God. In other words, this is God's tender love. Ezekiel 18:23. “Thus says the Lord GOD. How can I rejoice in the death of the wicked? How can he not rejoice that he turns and departs from his way and lives?”
Man wants the wicked to suffer and be judged by God. But God is pleased with even the wicked who turn and repent and live. Because of God's tender love, we too have been saved.
Jonah was angry once again, but he rebelled against God's will for Nineveh and became angry. God said, “It is not right for you to be angry.” He planned another thing to make God's heart understand.
Jonah built a shelter on the hill to shelter from the scorching sun. God prepared a gourd vine for Jonah and made it grow with attributes. As the gourd vines covered the hut, it was cool by blocking the sun. Jonah was very pleased with this work of God. When Jonah was in a good mood, God sent a worm to grind the gourd vine. The insect ate the stem of the gourd, and the next day the gourd withered. Moreover, God even made a hot wind blow. Jonah's good mood did not last more than a day. Jonah said to God, “I would rather die.”
God said, 'It is not right for you to be angry over the gourd.' But look at Jonah. “Even if I die of anger, it is worthy,” he says. Let's read verses 10-11 together. “You have not toiled, you have not cultivated, and you have cherished this gourd vine, which was born and destroyed overnight, says the Lord, how much more in this great city, Nineveh, there are more than a hundred thousand people who cannot distinguish between left and right, and even cattle. Since there are many, how is it not fitting for me to cherish?”
This is God's tender love for us. He is a God who tolerates even Jonah's disobedience, murmuring, and coercion, and makes him understand with kindness. And it is love that wants even the Gentile city of Nineveh, which must be destroyed because of iniquity, repent and return to live. The Lord says Luke 6:35, “But love your enemies, and do good, and borrow, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will become sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”
God wants us to live with the same heart and do His work. Because we have received this kind of love, we should be happy and show kind consideration and love. This is the surest secret to our happy and loving lives. There are many of us like Jonah, but let's think of the Lord's love for us and obey and follow the Lord's will for our own love and happiness.