THE HERO OF THE SHADE TREE_10 Jonah 4:1-10There are occasions in life when all of us need people to be caring, compassionate, and merciful.When dealing with any critical situation,severe illness, divorce, death, to name a few,the human heart longs for others to be understanding and kindhearted, perhaps even forgiving.During such times, people from all walks of life (believers, in particular) should extend a helping hand to the person or persons in need. There are times, however, when people are hesitant to reach out to others.When a person's lifestyle is so wicked that we do not want to be associated with the individual; or when we feel the individual does not deserve to be helped, we may not show kindness and compassion.We might hold back in judgment.But we can be assured of one truth:God knows every heart and longs to have mercy on every individual.Even if a person has rejected and cursed God's Holy Name, the LORD will shower His mercy upon the individual if he or she will do but one thing: repent.The person must turn away from the life of sin and turn to the LORD, showing love for God and His people.The person must also turn to God for mercy and begin to be compassionate toward others. Surprisingly, this is the subject of the present Scripture.Jonah, who had been showered with God's mercy time and again, is shown to have a hard heart.He does not understand the depth of God's mercy, that God's mercy can reach down to the depth of human depravity and save the most wicked, in this case represented by the Assyrians.Jonah has difficulty accepting the fact that God could save a people as wicked and cruel as them.It is this great lesson on God's mercy that Jonah must learn. |
