From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>

To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"

Cc:

Sent: Tue, Sep 7, 2021 at 5:19 AM

Subject: 9-7-21 THOUGHTS

9-7-21   THOUGHTS                          

Jonah was a most unwilling and disagreeable prophet.  After fleeing from his assignment, he reluctantly preaches repentance to Nineveh.  It was a success.  They repented.  Jonah was unhappy.  Jonah did what all of us do now and then.  He sat down and had a pity party with himself.   I’m not sure Jonah ever had a clue of the grandness of what he was involved in?
Sadly, Jonah seems to understand the grace and lovingkindness of God, but he harbors an unfaltering hatred for those that God loved.   He doesn’t seem to get over it?

Jonah 3:10  When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
Jonah 4:1-11   But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. 2  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. 3  "Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life."  4  The LORD said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?" 5   Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. 6  So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. 7  But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. 8  When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, "Death is better to me than life."
9  Then God said to Jonah, "Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?" And he said, "I have good reason to be angry, even to death." 10  Then the LORD said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. 11  "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?"

1John 4:7-8   Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  8  The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1John 4:20   If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.  

My Prayer:
O God, teach us of your love and mercy and compassion.  We thank you for it as we receive it, but we want to have it in our hearts and be able to apply it joyfully in our lives.  May we see you as Love, and avoid self pity.  May we rejoice that forgiveness comes from you.
In the precious name of Jesus              Amen