Human temptation for temporary shelters…than God !!.

Jonah chapter 4: 3-10

 Human temptation for temporary shelters…than God !!.

Ø Temptation to temporary protections

Ø   Unexpected Attacks by unpredicted time

Ø Self-centered life leads to self-destructions

  

Jonah could not accept that the Lord has forgiven the people of Nineveh. He finds a place outside the city and settled down and waited to see what would happen to the city. He was probably still hoping that God would change his mind and take action against the city. As he waited, Jonah made himself a temporary shelter and God graciously caused a bush to grow up around him and giving protection from burning sun. Jonah greatly cherished the shelter of this bush.

While Jonah waited for the judgment of God to fall upon Nineveh, the Lord sent a worm to eat the bush. At the same time, the Lord sent a strong wind and extreme heat. Without the shade of the bush, Jonah struck by the sun with all its intensity. He weakened under the heat. Jonah cried out to God to take his life because he was angry that the Lord had taken the bush from him.

When asked by God if it was right to be angry about the bush. Interestingly, Jonah responded by telling to the Lord that he has every right to be angry, even to the point of death. From Jonah’s perspective, things couldn’t have been any worse. He was in a foreign land .The heat was intolerable. God seemed unjust. As far as Jonah was concerned, the only thing that had gone his way in the last few weeks was that the bush grows up around him. Now God had even taken that from him.

See, how Jonah claimed this bush as his own, and how he failed to surrender all he had to the Lord. The Lord not only has the right to give, he also has the right to take away. How often do we receive the blessings from God and claim them as ours. There are days when all our plans seem to get changed, we have to admit that we get upset and become short-tempered. The fact of the matter is nothing is ours. It belongs to the Lord who can choose to do with everything as he pleases. We must learn to let him do whatever he pleases with all the blessings he has given us.

The Lord questions Jonah’s concern for the bush. Why had he shown concern for this bush and no concern ever for the eternal destiny of an entire city? The people had been held in spiritual darkness. For so long that they could not distinguish their right from their left .In other words, they did not even know the difference between right and wrong any more. In reality, the question of God to Jonah was this “why are you so concerned about your temporary comforts and completely ignore those who perish all around you?”  

The world in which we live resembles the city of Nineveh. It is filled with people who do not know their right from their left. Many people do not know the truth of God. Here what is our response to this situation? Are we like Jonah, who spent his time wrapped up in his own world, which is concerned only about our personal comfort? Our possessions are real blessing from God, but they must not take us away from the will of God.

When the children of Israel wandered through the desert, God fed them day after day with manna from heaven. One of the things the Lord told his people was that they needed for each day. Any manna left over would spoil. In this way had to rely upon the Lord on a daily basis. God knew human nature was such that it would always be grasping for more. If his people were permitted to accumulate possessions, their lusts would soon get the best of them and nothing else would matter.

The question that each of us must ask ourselves is, what is our bush when compared with that of Jonah? What is it that consumes our time, energy, talents and money and takes us away from time in the Word and service for God to account of our life? How will our priorities measure up to God’s expectations? Will they be in tune with the priorities of God?

May the Triune God Help us to surrender for His will and help to find out what would be the bush in our personal life which is leading us away from God’s expectations. Amen

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JWP. edited  by   Prasad V Abraham, Valanjavattom