That's grace for you!

Jonah 4:5-8

Picture the scene;

Sunday morning, 9:45, church.

You sit in a low blue chair with arms, in walks auntie May "thats MY chair, shift!"

You move.

An old brown leather chair at the back of the church, in walks Trevor "You're in MY seat!"

If you did this enough you'd come across some very unhappy people.

In the last post we saw that anger can sometimes be reasonable. But sometimes we get moved or made to feel uncomfortable and this triggers unreasonable rage.

We are all selfish.

It's in human nature (sin)

At first glance it may seem that God is "messing" with Jonah. He gives him the lovely shade of the plant only to take it away again in the form of a worm.

Jonahs joy disappears with the plant.

God's not "messing" with Jonah, He's teaching him a valuable lesson.

There is adouble meaning within this text;

Shade:- relieves Jonahs 'trouble' - which is the same as He did for the city of Nineveh.

However, while Jonah was delighted that his God would do that for him, he was furious that something similar should happen for others, especialy these pagans!

We would all like God to be the instant judge of everyone elses sins but to be gracious and patient with us.

Maybe scorching wind and blazing sun is a reminder to Jonah.

Perhaps this was a taste of the nastiness he had in mind for the Ninevites.

This was so horrific that he (once again) wished for death.

Next time we speak of judgement, lets remember that none of us got what we deserved - that's grace for you!

Love you X