The other day I drove past a single sunflower. I’ve seen fields of them before, beautifully kept and manicured on highways, but this caught my eye as it stood alone. It’s stature amplified its noticeability; it’s stem almost stood tall as I am and its flower appeared to overshadow my face.
Photo Credit: Myself
Often God deals with me through nature – I noticed this several years ago. I remember the first time I was captivated by creation. I drove down a two lane road and a horizontal line of leaves lay across it. HOW COULD THIS BE ON SUCH A WINDY DAY OR ANY DAY? I was amazed. I drove through and wrecked the placement of those leaves, as I do satan’s kingdom when I see, hear, write, speak and above all pray.
We are in a time of refreshing and God’s hands are upon us – this is a period of peace, rest & rejuvenation from the Lord. We must enter into this rest to obtain what we’ll need for the next leg of the race. Often we notice the calm after the storm, but there is a calm before the storm as well. In this time, God is attempting to sharpen us, sharpen our attention to detail and to teach us how to discern/recognize Him all the more. This is necessary to obtain what we need to survive and thrive.
Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come. “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.
But that isn’t what this post is about – please do read Entering God’s Rest when you can! In stark contrast this post is about LOVE ❤️
THE ASSIGNMENT
A man’s job was to act as a spokesman and representative. He was to visit a corrupt city and pronounce its destruction. Simple enough right? Instead of heading east towards Ninevah to speak this oracle from God, Jonah went west to flee from Him. David illustrates what Jonah learned:
If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol the place of the dead, behold, You are there.
There is no way to escape God’s presence and once you’ve had this encounter His mark is forever on you. He seals us with His Spirit and the Spirit draws us when we need it, our only job is to be sensitive to His leading. (Ephesians 1:13-14) Don’t be deceived we can’t expect to receive without putting anything in…effort is required, we must respond. If you continuously reject God then you can only expect to be rejected. 😔😔😔 (Hosea 4:6, Romans 1:28)
THE ACTION
So in chapter one Jonah received a Word from God, in rebellion he fled to a departing ship. While sleeping a storm began to rage outside, Jonah’s plans to elude God had been tharwted‼️‼️‼️ He volunteered to be thrown off the ship and ended up spending 3⃣ days 🌅 & 3⃣ nights 🌌 in the belly of a fish🐟. Being spared from trouble creates an expression of gratitude. Chapter two begins with a beautiful prayer that Jonah closes with a declaration to do God’s work. God’s grace will certainly implore you to remember Him and do what He asks.
Jonah 2:7 As my life was slipping away,I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple.
Jonah 2:9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”
Chapter two ends with Jonah being expelled from the fish onto land (Jonah 2:10) and the third details Jonah completing his assignment. In the final chapter, he hit the city announcing God’s message & surprisingly everyone responded positively. From the least to the greatest the city responded with repentance. But Jonah’s response wasn’t so warming. In chapter four, Jonah verbally expressed his discontent at God’s compassion.
He complained to the Lord and said, “Lord, I knew this would happen! I was in my own country, and you told me to come here. At that time I knew that you would forgive the people of this evil city, so I decided to run away to Tarshish. I knew that you are a kind God. I knew that you show mercy and don’t want to punish people. I knew that you are kind, and if these people stopped sinning, you would change your plans to destroy them.
THE OUTCOME
After this citywide turn to God, Jonah sat outside the city to watch what would take place. God caused a plant to grow, spreading its leaves over Jonah’s head as defense against the bleeting rays of the sun. The next morning God arranged a worm to eat at the plant, causing Jonah’s shade to wither away and scorching winds to blaze his body. God questioned Jonah, is it right for you to be angry about the plant dying and Jonah said yes. Belting a suicidal rant, he was angry enough to die. God responded gently…
The Lord said, “You are troubled about the plant for which you did not labor and did not grow. It came up in a night and perished in a night. Should I not, therefore, be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people, who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”
THE MESSAGE
This is where we are, this is the church’s AHA moment. Our love for one another is what defines us as His own (John 13:35). ❤️❤️❤️ Jonah wanted God to remain angry 😡, he didn’t want God to relent on His plans to destroy these people or exchange his plans of wrath with kindness. But God always desires repentance over punishment. In our daily lives we must look at every situation with love. Considering Jonah’s prayer, it’s amazing how we like Jonah, feel a tremendous sense of gratitude when God protects us from trouble or when we remember how kind He has been to us, but when someone else needs to be shown mercy or to be gently restored we like Jonah forget our sins. This should not be. 😔😔
Flickr/SergioDavid
Consider this story with me. A man owed his employer money, more accurately millions of dollars were at stake. He was unable to pay, so his employer decided to seize all that he had, including his family, to make amends for the debt. Fearing for his family the man begged for mercy. Astonishingly, his employer forgave his debt and sent the man on his way. 😯😯😯
Now this same man who had received so much kindness saw a colleague that owed him 20 bucks, he grabbed him by the collar demanding his money. When his peer couldn’t pay, the man who’d again received so much forgiveness, forgot about the cancellation of his debt and had the poor guy put in jail. When his employer heard of this he was angered and ultimately he received the punishment he initially avoided…because of his lack of mercy and forgiveness.
Then his master called him and said to him, You contemptible and wicked attendant! I forgave and cancelled all that great debt of yours because you begged me to. And should you not have had pity and mercy on your fellow attendant, as I had pity and mercy on you?
