Glad to have you back with us at the Daily Bread Bible Study about Jonah.
When we left off, Nineveh had repented and was forgiven by God. Well,
believe it or not, this annoyed ole Jonah. He even got a lil sassy with God
when he prayed "God, didn't I tell you this would happen before I came here
and I ran off to Tarshish because I knew you would be merciful and forgive
the people of Nineveh. So take my life from me cuz it's better to die than
to live.
Pretty shocking huh? After all he had been through and remember the touching
prayer he gave God from the belly of a great fish. Then he found it within
himself to be upset with God cuz God chose to forgive the people. I mean
Jonah was just granted the same compassion a few days earlier from the belly
of the great fish and now would rather die than live cuz God granted the
same for others.
God answered Jonah ... Is it right for you to be angry? So Jonah went
eastward outside of the city and set himself up a lil booth and he sat right
on down, waiting to see what would happen to the city. God saw this and
created a great gourd so that it would cast a shadow and provide him shade
in his grief. Jonah was glad for the shady comfort.
GOD
FORGIVES SINNERS LESSON WITH GOD FORGIVES SINNERS EXPLANATION AND GOD
FORGIVES SINNERS SUMMARY
The next day God created a worm which destroyed the Gourd that God had made.
Then the sun rose and the heat of the day rose. God created a great wind and
the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so much so that he fainted and said
AGAIN, it is better for me to die than live.
God asked Jonah if it was right to be angry about the gourd and Jonah said
yes, I do well to be angry even unto death. The Lord said, you have pity on
a gourd in which you have not labored neither made it grow which came up in
a night and was gone in a night and should I not spare Nineveh which has
more than 120,000 people which knew not their right hand from their left
(Knew not what they were doing) ... The book suddenly ends there ... One can
only imagine what took place at that point.
We all get this feeling inside and want to say to Jonah what's the matter
fella, you spoke God's Word and the people chose to believe and were saved.
What's the problem??? The problem was pride. Jonah felt that since God
forgave the people that his works were in vain. He went and sat outside the
city hoping it would be destroyed.
GOD FORGIVES SINNERS INFORMATION WITH GOD FORGIVES SINNERS MEANING
AND GOD FORGIVES SINNERS DISCUSSION
This story is a "shadow" of things to come in that we cannot go and sin, be
punished by God, pray for forgiveness, be forgiven by God and then step away
from that and fail to UNDERSTAND that GRACE is for everyone. Not just
ourselves. Soooooooooooo, the next time you come across someone RUNNING and
HIDING from God and their words and deeds may be deemed as sin, keep this in
mind ... We too are sinners and we have to ask God for His forgiveness all
the time. Judge not lest ye be judged. Let us NEVER become as Jonah and
become blinded by pride so much that we would rather die than understand the
TRUTH of GRACE ...
We look forward to sharing more with you in our Next Daily Bread Bible Study
... See ya there.
CONTINUE TO THE NEXT STUDY
