Brown's Daily Word 10-15-08

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day, full of the promises of our Lord. He still loves the world. He is upon the Throne. He reigns and He rules with Truth and Grace.
The story of Jonah found in the Old Testament is very interesting, unusual, and even disturbing. We all know the story of how he was sent by the Lord to Nineveh to call the people there to repentance. But Jonah did not want anything to do with these people. After all they were the enemies of Israel, terrorists if you will, who were fierce and cruel warriors. Jonah hated them and wanted them dead — and with good reason. Jonah was afraid of them, but he was also bothered that the Lord would ask him to go to them in order to call them to repent. Why not just send fire from heaven to consume them? That seemed the better option. After all, they were pagans. They neither loved God nor knew him. Jonah did not want to go to these people because of the remote possibility that they might repent and the Lord would have mercy on them, so he ran in the opposite direction, away from Nineveh and away from the Lord as well. You know the part of the story of him being swallowed by a great fish and delivered onto the shores of Israel by that leviathan of an ocean liner. They were not exactly the best accommodations. The surprising part of the story is that Jonah eventually went through Nineveh, probably looking freakish after his ride in the fish’s digestive tract, and cries out, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” He did not even ask the people to repent. He gave them no hope and merely announced judgment. He enjoyed the thought of their coming destruction. But something amazing happened — the people repented. They sat in sackcloth and ashes — even covering their animals in sackcloth. Their king took off his royal robes and repented, too. Then the Bible says, “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.” As you read through the Bible, you realize that something on this scale had never happened in Israel (and they were supposed to be the chosen people of God). Jonah had spawned a national revival, the likes of which have never been seen before or since. Jonah became the most successful prophet in the history of the world but Jonah was not happy about it all. He wanted the people to die, not to live. The Bible says, “ But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee 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, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live’” (Jonah 4:1-3). Amazing . . . He was angry with God for being gracious and compassionate. This whole story would have been shocking to Israel. They could not imagine God loving the people of Nineveh, these pagan enemies of theirs. It was totally out of line with their loyalty to their nation that was tied so closely with their religion. It would have been like trying to tell Americans in the 70’s that God loved atheistic communists and the people of Russia and China. It would be like telling people today that God loves Muslims and the people of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. One of the most frequent commands in the New Testament is, “Do not be afraid!” Jesus told his disciples about the persecution they would soon face. He told them of the coming persecution and said, “But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home” (John 16:32). It was the worst possible news they could imagine, but then he said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Do we believe that Jesus has overcome the world or do we not? Are we living in that quiet confidence? If we are, then we don’t have to get mad or upset at everything that comes along. This is good news. As you study history you see that Christianity has always thrived in times of persecution, in cultures that were hostile to it and which were morally decadent. It was in those times that Christians took their faith seriously and realized the importance of being a witness by living a transformed life in a culture collapsing under the weight of its own sin. There has never been a time when it is more important to live out the life that Christ has laid out for us than it is today, and it is possible through Christ. We have been forgiven and brought into the kingdom of heaven. We have the Holy Spirit living around us and within us. We have each other. We have the hope of a returning Savior and the promise of eternal life. What could be better? Wow! The Bible makes this promise, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

In Christ who reigns.
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN07PPMSvOc