Jonah 4
Don’t Sin in your Anger!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, September 16.
In the Sermon on the Mount, specifically Matthew 7:2, Jesus teaches about the danger of judging others according to our own self-righteous standards of justice, “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” His teaching continues that you must first remove the log from your own eye before you can accurately remove the speck from your brother’s eye (3-5). Jesus’ teaching is masterfully portrayed in the conclusion to Jonah’s story. Though his own nation was in rebellion against God, and he himself had just been rescued from certain death by God’s amazing grace, even though he had rebelled against God himself, Jonah didn’t want God to do the same for his enemies. To his horror, and by no means through his own eloquence or effort, the people of Nineveh repented because of his reluctant sermon. This did not surprise, but upset the prophet, as he explained to God in Jonah 4:1-3:
But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. 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. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”
God bless you!
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