But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tellContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 25”
Category Archives: Devotional
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 24
But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” Jonah 4:9 Again, God asks Jonah if his anger is right, this time his anger about the destruction of the plant. And Jonah, oblivious to theContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 24”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 23
When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4:8 There’s a parallel moment to this in the Old Testament, when the prophet Elijah,Continue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 23”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 22
Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose,Continue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 22”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 21
Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose,Continue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 21”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 20
Are you right to be angry?The question smarts like a slapped face.Wrong wording.Whether or not I am right, my anger deserves the time of day.So turn a sullen, smarting cheek.Stare into the raging haze.Grace taps your chipped shoulder.Grace takes the heat from your brow,yet inwardly you burn with a summer sun that has no roomContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 20”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 19
Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Jonah 4:5 Jonah, like me, has no answer to God for his anger. He can give the reason for it, butContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 19”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 18
But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Jonah 4:4 The answer, of course, has to be no. No, it isn’t right for Jonah to be angry. He has just identified one of God’s must defining characteristics for Israel – His mercy – and framed it as a problem, something to “forestall”. SoContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 18”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 17
He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, takeContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 17”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 16
But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. Jonah 4:1 It’s all too easy to judge Jonah. Easy also to declare that, because all anger is at its heart a desire to be in the place of God, it should simply respond to a biblical rebuke and go away. Seeing anger thisContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 16”
The Consolations of Writing 