Jonah 4:1 This change of plans upset Jonah, and he became very angry. I can so relate to this! I like to know what’s going on, and sudden changes in plan tend to throw me a little. I can also understand a little about why Jonah was angry that God changed His mind about destroying Nineveh. It’s not about the destruction, so much as it’s about Jonah’s reputation as a prophet. Prophets could be killed for falsely prophecying. Plus, to predict death and destruction and then have nothing happened makes him look foolish or incoompetent. How many of us hate it when that happens! Maybe we predicted a major systems failure that never happened, or we predicted that our students would do awesome on a test (maybe even bragging about our awesome teaching methods) and they bombed it. Or, maybe we claimed a promise or asked God for a miracle that never seemed to come. I think this last one is a big one. There are times when I am afraid to believe God for something or to ask Him for something because I’m afraid of looking foolish if it doesn’t happen. Our anger and fear of looking silly or of being wrong overshadows and stifles our faith. Faith can be fragile, and these ugly weeds of, ultimately, pride and selfishness can strangle it before it has a chance to grow. So, yeah, I can understand Jonah frustration. That still doesn’t make it right. But I can understand it a little. Maybe, in the end, it helps to remember that God isn’t interested in my comfort level, so much as He’s interested in the souls of those around me. And He will do whatever it takes for those souls to hear His voice, even if it means a change in plans.
Daniel 4: 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble those who are proud. Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful man in the known world and had conquered most of it as well. God brought him to his knees by causing him to lose his mind. Eventually, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged God as being all-powerful and his sanity was restored, along with his kingdom. There are many times when I wonder about the direction in which our country is being led. But, ultimately, God holds the heart of our President and the congress in His hands. He changed the heart of a man who didn’t believe in Him and made Him a man who proclaimed God’s greatness to his entire nation. A person doesn’t have to believe in God in order for God to work in his or her life. So, I pray for our President and our leaders because God can touch and change their hearts, too. If He can change Nebuchadnezzar then changing our leader is nothing! Nothing is too big or too difficult for our God!
Ezekiel 36: 26-27 And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command. I love this verse. I love the fact that God loves His people so much that He refuses to totally abandon them. Granted, part of why He doesn’t abandon them and why He says He will do all these things is because the nations were mocking His name saying that He couldn’t protect His people. But whatever the motivation, He didn’t just say He’d rescue them, He says He will totally restore them and make them new inside and out! I love that God can give us a new heart, and a new spirit. He doesn’t just change our hearts, He completely replaces them, taking out the old! So, that old nasty heart is gone completely, and in its place is a new, obedient heart. That means all the old junk that went along with that old heart is also gone! And God gives us right desires along with our new, obedient heart. That’s pretty awesome! Another thing to note is that there is nothing that we do; it’s all God. He removes the old and replaces it with the new. He gives us right desires. He does all the work. The end result, after all His hard work, is our obedience and a new softness, a Spirit that is like His as we grow to be more like Christ. It’s not about us, it’s about Him. We can’t do it ourselves. That’s the beauty of salvation and change. It forces us to let go and trust that God is big enough and strong enough and loving enough to do all these things for us. Yeah God!