Recovery Devotional 334 Blind Hatred

JMD Devotional 334 Jonah 4:5-11 Blind Hatred

So Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city, and he made a booth there for himself. He sat there under it in the shade till he might see what would become of the city.

And the Lord God prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil situation. So Jonah was exceedingly glad [to have the protection] of the gourd. But God prepared a cutworm when the morning dawned the next day, and it smote the gourd so that it withered. And when the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he fainted and wished in himself to die and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the loss of the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die! Then said the Lord, You have had pity on the gourd, for which you have not labored nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons not [yet old enough to] know their right hand from their left, and also many cattle [not accountable for sin]?

The Author of Life has a different perspective than we creatures have for one another. It is a good thing that automobiles are not equipped with machine guns and death rays (especially near Christmas): road rage reduces other people into mere obstacles. It is a good thing that our powers are limited: if a thought could kill, how much blood would be on your hands? (We might have had this kind of power before the fall! Who knows?) Paul said that in God “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). God is intimate with all living things, whether they are conscious of Him or not, whether they accept Him or not: because He animates all things. I have heard many people frustrated with the situation in Iraq and Iran say things like, “Nuke ‘em and let God sort it out.” They forget that in these Muslim countries exist small, heavily persecuted populations of Christians. There are many more potential Christians; both those disenchanted with the shallow scathing dogma and those who find no relief or comfort in the Koran for their soul. Then there are millions of children…

Dear God,

David asked, “Do I not hate those who hate you?” (Psalm 139:21) It was even said of our Lord Jesus, “Zeal for Your House hath eaten me up” (John 2:17). But when James and John wanted to call fire from Heaven down upon a town that rejected their teaching, Jesus rebuked them

Saying, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of” (Luke 9:55). Lord God, help us to bridle our passion, to control our anger, to arrest the hatred that wells up to blacken our hearts. Give us spiritual eyes, for our earthly context does not give us the perspective we need, to see things Your way. Paul spoke of showing us “a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31), help us to be known as a loving people. You alone are worthy and capable to judge and to condemn: may we leave those things in Your hands, and love others, even our enemies, as You commanded.

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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