Saturday, September 12, 2026

Opening Scripture

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. Romans 9:14-18

Opening Prayer

Gracious Father, I praise You for all that You are and all that You’ve done. I praise You for Your abundant blessings to me in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Your Son. I praise You for Your Spirit, who lives in me, comforting, counseling, and guiding each day. Thank you for adopting me into Your eternal family. I offer myself to You this day, through Jesus Christ, who rules and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever more. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

Jonah 4:1-11

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

But the LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the LORD God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.

But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and also many animals?”

Reflection  

Why is it so easy for us to receive God’s mercy and grace for ourselves, yet want God to withhold it from others?

The extent of Jonah’s prejudice is now fully exposed! The reason he tried to flee from God’s presence, was willing to spend a ridiculous amount of money to charter a ship, risked endangering the lives of the crew, and stoically accepted death by drowning, was his recognition of God’s expansive mercy and his deep hatred of the Assyrians. As such, he was merely expressing the attitude of the Israelites.

Remember the culture of the Northern Kingdom. Peace, prosperity, and military strength had produced a society given to idolatry, indulgence, and immorality. Wealth and luxury had created a culture of decadence and wickedness. Israel had become politically secure and spiritually smug. Material abundance prompted moral corruption.

“I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Psalm 36:1). “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (2 Corinthians 10:12).

Having rejected God’s covenant authority and with no commitment to God’s law, the people had no standard for righteous living. There was no shared moral code or concern for social justice. The legal system had become crooked, and the poor were oppressed. Mercy, grace, and forgiveness were in short supply, replaced by a sense of arrogance and superiority.

The story of Jonah serves as a clear indictment of the people of God, both then and now.

After half-heartedly sharing God’s warning to the Ninevites, Jonah retreated outside the city walls to see what would happen. If God was going to exercise “Sodom and Gomorrah style judgment” on Nineveh, Jonah wanted to be out of the “splash zone” but with a front row seat. When the people repented and God relented, Jonah was more than disappointed. He was angry!

The Ninevites’ repentance caused God to turn away from His righteous anger, and Jonah was more than willing to quickly pick it up and turn it into unrighteous anger. Like a pouting two-year-old, when questioned by God, the reluctant prophet hugged his bitterness even more tightly. “Is it right for you to be angry?” God asked. “It is,” Jonah replied. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead!”

Firmly maintaining his selfish and immature perspective, Jonah places the blame on God. This whole sorry situation was ultimately His fault! “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah knew that Almighty God was impossibly compassionate and astoundingly gracious. Jonah was convinced that Yahweh was exceedingly slow to anger and remarkably full of (hesed) love, but he took no joy in it. At least not when it was offered to the people he despised and looked down on.

Jonah’s selfishness and immaturity were on full display when he expressed more concern over a weed that provided him with temporary relief from the heat than he did over the fate of a hundred and twenty thousand people. This sulking messenger had truly lost all perspective on life.

Flourishing Habit

Flourishing Christians

It should be evident by now that Jonah is not the main character in this story. God is! Yahweh has the first word and the last word in this book. God gives clear instruction to His prophet on two occasions. He controls the weather for His purpose. He gives specific commands to a huge fish, a flourishing vine, and a tiny worm, and each instantly obeys. Almighty God is sovereign over all His creation!

God is compassionate toward all people, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). As Jonah came to realize (much to his dismay), that wide mercy included the hated Assyrians. God’s redemption was intended to come, not just to Israel, but through Israel to all nations.

“This is what God the LORD says – the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: ‘I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you’” (Isaiah 42:5-9).

The fact that the blood-thirsty, pagan Assyrians collectively repented and turned to God serves as a rebuke to the Israelites who refused to repent, continued in their sin, and eventually faced divine judgment from that very detested nation.

In every generation, the book of Jonah is a powerful reminder to God’s people of their missionary purpose. We are blessed in order to be a blessing! Almighty God will ultimately accomplish His will with or without us. Our greatest joy and fulfillment is to actively participate with Him in His great plan of redemption. We can join with Jonah in proclaiming, “Salvation comes from the LORD!”

How has the story of Jonah challenged your perspective?

What do you need to confess to God or embrace from God?

Who do you need to reach out to as God’s divine representative?

This week’s collective prayer: Father, place someone on my heart who needs to hear the Good News of Jesus. Give me the opportunity to share with them. Amen.

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!