On the opposite extreme of today's megachurch agendas of bringing in the masses with appeal; we have the example of grumpy Jonah. I mean the dude could have had at least some sense of the unique time and place to reach Gentiles; and not a few.
I mean over 100,000 people repenting at once after one message? Well; one thing we can't fault him on was pride due to such an enormous event of mass repentance as a direct result of his preaching. I'm a bit envious of such a feat to be perfectly honest.
WHY God used him likely is best explained by the fact that He uses who He will and we are only along for the ride. Ok also I should add that he never complained about the money involved for the mission; I'm not sure how much it cost him to ride the opposite direction toward the ends of the known world at that time.
I should once again mention that he was aware of the horrendous brutal treatment that this nation had caused His people in the past. To be aghast at such things at least gave him an awareness of evil; which sadly tends to be whitewashed today in regard to the society as a whole when we are trying to reach individuals. Obviously his heart wasn't right; the near death or actual death eperienced didn't help change his attitude; he was obedient enough but through compulsion no doubt. He did speak the truth; it WAS his fault the storm caused the ship to be all but destroyed; and once they gave him the boot and it calmed down was enough for THEM to repent (another thing he didn't appreciate). Nonetheless the very unsatisfying end of the book with Jonah childishly mourning the death of a vine that gave shade but disregard for all God had done was; well just stupid. I don't think I'm being irreverent here.
His comment to God was basically "I told you so". It doesn't seem he had a trust issue here; and he knew God's ways but didn't care. What Jonah DID have was all the proper tools but a sick heart
The grumpy prophet: Jonah
On the opposite extreme of today's megachurch agendas of bringing in the masses with appeal; we have the example of grumpy Jonah. I mean the dude could have had at least some sense of the unique time and place to reach Gentiles; and not a few.
I mean over 100,000 people repenting at once after one message? Well; one thing we can't fault him on was pride due to such an enormous event of mass repentance as a direct result of his preaching. I'm a bit envious of such a feat to be perfectly honest.
WHY God used him likely is best explained by the fact that He uses who He will and we are only along for the ride. Ok also I should add that he never complained about the money involved for the mission; I'm not sure how much it cost him to ride the opposite direction toward the ends of the known world at that time.
I should once again mention that he was aware of the horrendous brutal treatment that this nation had caused His people in the past. To be aghast at such things at least gave him an awareness of evil; which sadly tends to be whitewashed today in regard to the society as a whole when we are trying to reach individuals. Obviously his heart wasn't right; the near death or actual death eperienced didn't help change his attitude; he was obedient enough but through compulsion no doubt. He did speak the truth; it WAS his fault the storm caused the ship to be all but destroyed; and once they gave him the boot and it calmed down was enough for THEM to repent (another thing he didn't appreciate). Nonetheless the very unsatisfying end of the book with Jonah childishly mourning the death of a vine that gave shade but disregard for all God had done was; well just stupid. I don't think I'm being irreverent here.
His comment to God was basically "I told you so". It doesn't seem he had a trust issue here; and he knew God's ways but didn't care. What Jonah DID have was all the proper tools but a sick heart
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