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11 October 2007
Theme for this week: The Sign of Jonah
Jonah 3:10-4:4
When God saw what the people did, that they stopped doing evil, he changed his mind and did not do what he had warned. He did not punish them. But this made Jonah very unhappy, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, "When I was still in my own country this is what I said would happen, and that is why I quickly ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you are a God who is kind and shows mercy. You don't become angry quickly, and you have great love. I knew you would choose not to cause harm. So now I ask you, Lord, please kill me. It is better for me to die than to live." Then the Lord said, "Do you think it is right for you to be angry?"
What god do we serve?
We say that we believe in God and we are serving Him, but sometimes there can be a gap between the God we say we believe in and what our lives say about Him. All too often, we try to make God in our own image. It can be very tempting to put ourselves in God's place and use Him to justify our actions.
Jonah's picture of God goes through some very significant changes in the course of this story. As Jonah goes through hell and highwater, he learns what it is to call on God and for God to answer, but still his picture of God is far from accurate.
When faced with the true picture of God's mercy and forgiveness, Jonah is angry. This God does not fit the box Jonah had made for Him.
Jesus said "God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17) Do we believe this to be true or, like Jonah, would we like to see more of God's anger against the world that seems so far from Him?
God refuses to be put in a box by us and always acts in a way that challenges our assumptions.
But you, the Lord God, are kind and merciful.
You don't easily get angry, and your love can always be trusted. (Psalm 86:15)
The LORD says: "My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Forgive us for having tried to make you a god in our own image.
Free us to know you as you are and to become like you.
Amen
Written by Pete Sandford of FaithMatters
Theme for this week: The Sign of Jonah
Jonah 3:10-4:4
When God saw what the people did, that they stopped doing evil, he changed his mind and did not do what he had warned. He did not punish them. But this made Jonah very unhappy, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, "When I was still in my own country this is what I said would happen, and that is why I quickly ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you are a God who is kind and shows mercy. You don't become angry quickly, and you have great love. I knew you would choose not to cause harm. So now I ask you, Lord, please kill me. It is better for me to die than to live." Then the Lord said, "Do you think it is right for you to be angry?"
What god do we serve?
We say that we believe in God and we are serving Him, but sometimes there can be a gap between the God we say we believe in and what our lives say about Him. All too often, we try to make God in our own image. It can be very tempting to put ourselves in God's place and use Him to justify our actions.
Jonah's picture of God goes through some very significant changes in the course of this story. As Jonah goes through hell and highwater, he learns what it is to call on God and for God to answer, but still his picture of God is far from accurate.
When faced with the true picture of God's mercy and forgiveness, Jonah is angry. This God does not fit the box Jonah had made for Him.
Jesus said "God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17) Do we believe this to be true or, like Jonah, would we like to see more of God's anger against the world that seems so far from Him?
God refuses to be put in a box by us and always acts in a way that challenges our assumptions.
But you, the Lord God, are kind and merciful.
You don't easily get angry, and your love can always be trusted. (Psalm 86:15)
The LORD says: "My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Forgive us for having tried to make you a god in our own image.
Free us to know you as you are and to become like you.
Amen
Written by Pete Sandford of FaithMatters
