Jonah 4:5-11 "So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city (6) And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. (7) But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. (8) And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. (9) And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. (10) Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: (11) And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"
Jonah 1:17 "Now the LORD had prepared a great fish"
Jonah 4:6 "And the LORD God prepared a gourd"
Jonah 4:7 "But God prepared a worm"
Jonah 4:8 "God prepared a vehement east wind"
I'm using a lot of Scripture this morning to show to myself that God is always
active in my life. Though the word, prepared, is not used, we can also
know that God had prepared a certain ship, a certain storm, certain sailors and
captain on that ship in order to teach Jonah a lesson. God also had prepared
Nineveh to receive the message that Jonah finally gave to them. It would have
been nice if Jonah had learned that lesson. The book of Jonah ends in an
uncertainty. We do not know what happened to Jonah. We learned a lot about him
and his rebellious nature. But the older I get, the more I realize that Jonah
is me. Do not tell anyone, but I'm a bit hard headed also. Human nature is such
that we often place our priorities in the wrong place. Jonah's priority was his
own comfort. God's preparation for him was to take him out of that comfort zone
into a place of faith and complete trust in the Lord. Lord, help me to be
able to recognize those times you are making preparation to take me into your
peace rather than my own uncomfortable comfort. In Jesus's name. Amen.