Friday, May 27, 2016

Jonah 4:9-11 (timeless)


Jonah 4:9-11
4:9 - Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”

When man refuses to learn the first time (v. 4:4), God brings the same lesson around again.
Man is shortsighted on the temporal and himself.

4:10 - Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.

The Lord will point out man's shortcomings...

4:11 - Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

...and will entreat him to align his thoughts with God's thoughts.
Cod is compassionate not only on wicked people, but also animals.
God sees adults and children as different. (unless the phrase "do not know the difference between their right and left hand" refers to people who are ignorant of God and His statutes).

Paragraph Summary
Man is wrapped up with concern for his own comfort and does not care for others' comfort.
God is wrapped up with concern for others.

Chapter 4 Notes and Summary
Erroneous thinking: If you take comfort in material things, God will take it away. While God may choose to remove obstacles that get in the way of our relationship with Him, it is not automatic that God will remove material things that comfort us.

Chapter 4 boiled down to a sentence: Man is self-centered; God is compassionate.

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