Good morning -
I've said it more times than I can remember: Where is a cop when you need one? Whenever I see a reckless or overly-fast driver I long to see them get pulled over by the police because of their blatant disregard for the law (never mind that I'm usually breaking the speed limit at the time while keeping up with the rest of traffic). What's troubling is that it's not my zeal for the law that motivates me; it's a less-than-noble motive to see the wicked "get what's coming to them". Apparently I'm not alone in harboring such feelings:
"it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity." (Jonah 4:1-2)
Jonah, the reluctant preacher, feared success through the message God called him to preach to the city of Nineveh. He knew that this enemy of Israel was a real threat, but if God destroyed them in judgment then they would no longer be a threat. He knew that a merciful and forgiving God would forego punishment for the genuinely repentant, and this greatly angered Jonah.
Still hoping for God's consuming judgment, Jonah took up position a safe distance from Nineveh "until he could see what would happen in the city." (Jonah 4:5). It was there that God shared His heart of compassion with Jonah and reasoned with him to have the same mindset:
"Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" (Jonah 4:11)
God has little patience with the willfully wicked, but He has unfailing compassion for the "innocently wicked". He "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4).
Perhaps our desire for God's vengeance upon the willfully wicked has hardened our hearts toward the "innocently wicked", as perhaps it had Jonah. There are those in the world who would be repentant if they only knew truth. But how will they hear unless someone tells them? And how can someone tell them unless they are sent from God? Truly, "How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news" (Isaiah 52:7).
May our prayer and desire today be that the God of compassion direct us to the "innocently wicked" who will genuinely repent through knowledge of the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus. That's where God's heart is, and where ours needs to be.
Seeking to overcome my "Jonah complex" through God's compassion,
Pastor Steve
I've said it more times than I can remember: Where is a cop when you need one? Whenever I see a reckless or overly-fast driver I long to see them get pulled over by the police because of their blatant disregard for the law (never mind that I'm usually breaking the speed limit at the time while keeping up with the rest of traffic). What's troubling is that it's not my zeal for the law that motivates me; it's a less-than-noble motive to see the wicked "get what's coming to them". Apparently I'm not alone in harboring such feelings:
"it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity." (Jonah 4:1-2)
Jonah, the reluctant preacher, feared success through the message God called him to preach to the city of Nineveh. He knew that this enemy of Israel was a real threat, but if God destroyed them in judgment then they would no longer be a threat. He knew that a merciful and forgiving God would forego punishment for the genuinely repentant, and this greatly angered Jonah.
Still hoping for God's consuming judgment, Jonah took up position a safe distance from Nineveh "until he could see what would happen in the city." (Jonah 4:5). It was there that God shared His heart of compassion with Jonah and reasoned with him to have the same mindset:
"Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" (Jonah 4:11)
God has little patience with the willfully wicked, but He has unfailing compassion for the "innocently wicked". He "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4).
Perhaps our desire for God's vengeance upon the willfully wicked has hardened our hearts toward the "innocently wicked", as perhaps it had Jonah. There are those in the world who would be repentant if they only knew truth. But how will they hear unless someone tells them? And how can someone tell them unless they are sent from God? Truly, "How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news" (Isaiah 52:7).
May our prayer and desire today be that the God of compassion direct us to the "innocently wicked" who will genuinely repent through knowledge of the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus. That's where God's heart is, and where ours needs to be.
Seeking to overcome my "Jonah complex" through God's compassion,
Pastor Steve
posted by steve @ 9:18 AM
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