Recovery Devotional 333 Roots of Hostility

JMD Devotional 333 Jonah 3:10-4:4 Roots of Hostility

10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God revoked His [sentence of] evil that He had said that He would do to them and He did not do it [for He was comforted and eased concerning them].

1-4 BUT IT displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, I pray You, O Lord, is not this just what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and [when sinners turn to You and meet Your conditions] You revoke the [sentence of] evil against them. Therefore now, O Lord, I beseech You, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the Lord, Do you do well to be angry?

What makes you angry? What kinds of people push your hot button? Who do you want to see suffering in Hell? Behind those strong sentiments is secret shame; of all the people we mislead, at the very front of the line is our self-deception. If you are rabidly homophobic, then, to some degree, you are secretly attracted to the same sex and are ashamed of it. If you hate lazy people, you are really acknowledging that you despise your own lazy tendencies even though you cover them with the fig leaf of a workaholic. Our psyche can hardly bear a clear and undistorted view of our own soul: how selfish, how petty, how utterly depraved we are at our core: it is so repugnant that a healthy mind tries to shield itself from the truth. The temptations and sin men and women suffer from “are common to all” humanity (1 Corinthians 10:13). Jonah could delude himself into thinking he was a righteous and upright person, but God saw right through him. God was not out just to save the people of Nineveh, but to save Jonah! Jonah was dead in his trespasses and sin; God used the people of Nineveh to expose his racial hatred and calloused heart. Jonah wanted God to nuke them, oblivious to the fact that he was just as worthy of damnation (a person of God’s chosen people or not, individually he was a retched sinner). Never begrudge another of God’s mercy; for with the measure you use, it will be dealt out to you (Matthew 7:2). Look into the mirror and thank God for His mercy. You needed it as much as any other.

Exodus 34:6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord! the Lord! a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth…

Dear God,

I praise and thank You for Your mercy! Help me to not judge others; remind me, that ‘but for the grace of God, go I.’ If I become emotionally out of control, and my contempt, anger and hate well up; expose the root of it, remind me of my depravity, and bring cleansing. Impart humility. Help me to be gentle with myself and others, forgiving and accepting without compromising on sin and righteousness. May our repentance and redemption glorify Your holy name.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

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