Walking In Spirit

Day 21 – Jonah 1:1-3, 3:1-10 and 4:1-3


While I was in Washington DC this past week, I visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History. As I walked around through the various exhibits, I came across one that displayed the typical life of slaves prior to the civil war. There were pictures of everything from the lifestyles they lived, to the agonies that they endured.

In one section, there was a family that was gazing at some of the pictures of the worst scars imaginable on the back of one of the men. The father of the family looked up directly into my eyes when I came into the exhibit and said “I don’t see how anyone could ever think that they could own another human being.” The words he said, I doubt any would argue with, but the hatred that glared in his eyes towards me was undeserved. At making the comment, his children stared up at him and then followed his eyes to then stare into mine; their hatred too flashing back behind them.

This story in Jonah reflects a similar hatred that Jonah had towards the people of Nineveh. Jonah it is certain had taken issue with these people over their deeds of the past. Undoubtedly either he or his family had in the past been captive or persecuted by these people and he was prejudiced against them.

When we have these thoughts that the world rotates around us (as men), we suddenly end up with wrong views of God’s providence. The apostle Paul said “ …we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. “

There are evils that men do and they will one day have to make an account of their actions to God. God is their creator and God will be their judge.

When you next see someone undeservedly prospering or being given opportunities that they haven’t earned, remember the last verse in Jonah:

God was speaking and he said “ Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left… ?”

There is more I want to write on this, but it would take a chapter. Perhaps I will revisit this topic sometime. God is in control. It is his desire to show give drops of mercy on whom he has mercy; showers of blessings on whom he will reign.