Fourth Day of Lent - Saturday - Mar 8
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Meditation
The Fourth Day of Lent continues the story of Jonah. Jonah is such a realistic character. Like Jonah, I have made judgments that some people are a lost cause unworthy. Why bother reaching out, since they are so sinful and undeserving and it is so unlikely that such sinful people would turn their hearts to the Lord? We tend to assume people lean more to Sodom and Gomorrah than Jerusalem. But the point is not the people but God telling Jonah to go. Obedience in the face of opposition and unlikelihood. We sometimes forget the inner heart where God is at work.
Jonah pouts in the desert and feels the heat of the midday sun that God was right and the Ninevites accepted the good news. God has work to teach Jonah, still. Overnight God gives him a miracle—a shade tree for him to find relief. Jonah enjoys it for a day and then overnight, a worm destroys it, causing it to wither. No more shade tree.
Jonah whines to God that he feels like dying. He doesn’t feel things are fair. How many times have people thought the same thing about co-workers, neighbors, family or friends? So we have been deterred from praying for them or sharing the good news. Would we think of praying for a leader of a foreign land that seems bent on harm to others—like Saddam Hussein was?
But God called Jonah to do just that and may nudge us to do something similar.
A chief in the Navy shared the story of missionary he met. The man felt called minister to a tribe of Burmese--what was then called Burma and now called Myanmar. He faced government opposition to Christian missionaries. Hence, a friend smuggled him in the trunk of a his car for a two hour drive.
I can only imagine the discomfort, the smell of fuel, tires, airless trunk and lightless environment. When he arrived, a contact in the village he hoped to share the Good News with, said that the town were cannibals and a visitor could not enter the village without an invite of the chief of the town. So, his alternative accommodations was a dank cave a short distance up the mountain from the town.
For two years, the missionary lived off the land in the cave, also receiving some assistance from curious villagers, one of whom seemed to believe. Then, one day, he arrived excitedly and told the missionary the chief was inviting him into the town. He raced down the hill to meet the chief for a proper entrance into the town.
“By the way, what made the chief change his mind?” the missionary asked.
“His prize bull,” the villager replied. “His prize bull died and none of his wise men could revive it, so he said to see if the God of that crazy guy in the cave had more power and could heal his bull.”
The missionary’s heart sank. He learned that the bull had been dead for three days. He’d never prayed a prayer of resurrection for a person that resulted in a miracle and he was being asked to raise a bull from the dead, let alone being three days dead? “God,” he thought, “could you have made it a little easier?”
He knew his life was at stake, because if he didn’t raise the bull from the dead, it would be likely the chief would kill him and being cannibals, it was not a bright thought.
Yet, he calmed his thoughts and prayed for the right words and God to give him courage and strength, even in the face of death.
The chief met him with skepticism, but simply instructed him to make the bull live.
Taking a deep breath, the missionary walked to the bull and laid his hands on the bulging belly. “In the name of Jesus, rise up and live.”
The simple words had no sooner been spoken when the chest heaved and the big beast rolled onto its knees and stood up.
The chief praised the God of the missionary and proclaimed that the village should become Christian. Many of the villagers truly believed, and the missionary moved down from his cave into the village.
Like Jonah, the cause appeared unlikely, even hopeless, but the missionary ultimately listened to God and obeyed the Word of the Lord. For the Scripture today, God asks why Jonah is angry over the loss of the shade plant, which Jonah neither planted or grew. How much more valuable were the more than one hundred twenty thousand people than shade for Jonah?
Throughout Epiphany, we were instructed to NOT judge, but rather love, be kind, generous, do good and be humble. Jonah suffered the same problem as current day Christians, but God took time to show that change is possible and God has a workable plan, if we will be obedient.
Thanks be to God.
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com where the text is linked to more contemporary versions.
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Season of Lent Bible Readings
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 51;Jonah 4:1-11;Romans 1:8-17&version=KJV;ERV;NCV;GNT;NIV
(multiple versions)
Fourth Day of Lent
Psalm 51
Jonah 4:1-11
Romans 1:8-17
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Psalm 51:1-17 New Century Version (NCV) [This prayer of confession is worthy of memorizing it as a whole.]
A Prayer for Forgiveness
For the director of music. A psalm of David when the prophet Nathan came to David after David’s sin with Bathsheba.
51 God, be merciful to me
because you are loving.
Because you are always ready to be merciful,
wipe out all my wrongs.
2 Wash away all my guilt
and make me clean again.
3 I know about my wrongs,
and I can’t forget my sin.
4 You are the only one I have sinned against;
I have done what you say is wrong.
You are right when you speak
and fair when you judge.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
Single Bible Study chapter to study
Jonah 4:1-11
King James Version (KJV)
4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. What strikes you? An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Dear God, Forgive us for judging people we shouldn’t. Forgive us for not listening and obeying your Word. Transform us to be good stewards and obedient to what pleases you. Jesus name. Amen.
Conclusion
On the Fourth Day of Lent, Jonah tickles our realistic bone, because we can identify with someone, who looks on the outward appearance and makes assessments—even if they are wrong. I am disappointed in myself when I make a bad judgment. But I still limp along and try to make ‘mid-course corrections’ as we said in the Navy. God was patient about teaching Jonah not to judge and to be obedient to God in the face of the seemingly unrealistic futures.
That is where we are called to trust, obey and have faith in God. I am going through some overwhelming challenges and these Scriptures speak to me that God will help us accomplish the impossible. My job—to be faithful and obedient, work hard and trust God. As my grandmother used to say, “You work like it all depends on you, but you pray because it all depends on God.” So, let’s get working and praying.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life.*
Thank you for visiting ChapLynne’s Daily Encouragement and Bible Study. God bless you.
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins, will also do.
The Fourth Day of Lent continues the story of Jonah. Jonah is such a realistic character. Like Jonah, I have made judgments that some people are a lost cause unworthy. Why bother reaching out, since they are so sinful and undeserving and it is so unlikely that such sinful people would turn their hearts to the Lord? We tend to assume people lean more to Sodom and Gomorrah than Jerusalem. But the point is not the people but God telling Jonah to go. Obedience in the face of opposition and unlikelihood. We sometimes forget the inner heart where God is at work.
Jonah pouts in the desert and feels the heat of the midday sun that God was right and the Ninevites accepted the good news. God has work to teach Jonah, still. Overnight God gives him a miracle—a shade tree for him to find relief. Jonah enjoys it for a day and then overnight, a worm destroys it, causing it to wither. No more shade tree.
Jonah whines to God that he feels like dying. He doesn’t feel things are fair. How many times have people thought the same thing about co-workers, neighbors, family or friends? So we have been deterred from praying for them or sharing the good news. Would we think of praying for a leader of a foreign land that seems bent on harm to others—like Saddam Hussein was?
But God called Jonah to do just that and may nudge us to do something similar.
A chief in the Navy shared the story of missionary he met. The man felt called minister to a tribe of Burmese--what was then called Burma and now called Myanmar. He faced government opposition to Christian missionaries. Hence, a friend smuggled him in the trunk of a his car for a two hour drive.
I can only imagine the discomfort, the smell of fuel, tires, airless trunk and lightless environment. When he arrived, a contact in the village he hoped to share the Good News with, said that the town were cannibals and a visitor could not enter the village without an invite of the chief of the town. So, his alternative accommodations was a dank cave a short distance up the mountain from the town.
For two years, the missionary lived off the land in the cave, also receiving some assistance from curious villagers, one of whom seemed to believe. Then, one day, he arrived excitedly and told the missionary the chief was inviting him into the town. He raced down the hill to meet the chief for a proper entrance into the town.
“By the way, what made the chief change his mind?” the missionary asked.
“His prize bull,” the villager replied. “His prize bull died and none of his wise men could revive it, so he said to see if the God of that crazy guy in the cave had more power and could heal his bull.”
The missionary’s heart sank. He learned that the bull had been dead for three days. He’d never prayed a prayer of resurrection for a person that resulted in a miracle and he was being asked to raise a bull from the dead, let alone being three days dead? “God,” he thought, “could you have made it a little easier?”
He knew his life was at stake, because if he didn’t raise the bull from the dead, it would be likely the chief would kill him and being cannibals, it was not a bright thought.
Yet, he calmed his thoughts and prayed for the right words and God to give him courage and strength, even in the face of death.
The chief met him with skepticism, but simply instructed him to make the bull live.
Taking a deep breath, the missionary walked to the bull and laid his hands on the bulging belly. “In the name of Jesus, rise up and live.”
The simple words had no sooner been spoken when the chest heaved and the big beast rolled onto its knees and stood up.
The chief praised the God of the missionary and proclaimed that the village should become Christian. Many of the villagers truly believed, and the missionary moved down from his cave into the village.
Like Jonah, the cause appeared unlikely, even hopeless, but the missionary ultimately listened to God and obeyed the Word of the Lord. For the Scripture today, God asks why Jonah is angry over the loss of the shade plant, which Jonah neither planted or grew. How much more valuable were the more than one hundred twenty thousand people than shade for Jonah?
Throughout Epiphany, we were instructed to NOT judge, but rather love, be kind, generous, do good and be humble. Jonah suffered the same problem as current day Christians, but God took time to show that change is possible and God has a workable plan, if we will be obedient.
Thanks be to God.
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com where the text is linked to more contemporary versions.
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Season of Lent Bible Readings
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 51;Jonah 4:1-11;Romans 1:8-17&version=KJV;ERV;NCV;GNT;NIV
(multiple versions)
Fourth Day of Lent
Psalm 51
Jonah 4:1-11
Romans 1:8-17
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Psalm 51:1-17 New Century Version (NCV) [This prayer of confession is worthy of memorizing it as a whole.]
A Prayer for Forgiveness
For the director of music. A psalm of David when the prophet Nathan came to David after David’s sin with Bathsheba.
51 God, be merciful to me
because you are loving.
Because you are always ready to be merciful,
wipe out all my wrongs.
2 Wash away all my guilt
and make me clean again.
3 I know about my wrongs,
and I can’t forget my sin.
4 You are the only one I have sinned against;
I have done what you say is wrong.
You are right when you speak
and fair when you judge.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
Single Bible Study chapter to study
Jonah 4:1-11
King James Version (KJV)
4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. What strikes you? An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Dear God, Forgive us for judging people we shouldn’t. Forgive us for not listening and obeying your Word. Transform us to be good stewards and obedient to what pleases you. Jesus name. Amen.
Conclusion
On the Fourth Day of Lent, Jonah tickles our realistic bone, because we can identify with someone, who looks on the outward appearance and makes assessments—even if they are wrong. I am disappointed in myself when I make a bad judgment. But I still limp along and try to make ‘mid-course corrections’ as we said in the Navy. God was patient about teaching Jonah not to judge and to be obedient to God in the face of the seemingly unrealistic futures.
That is where we are called to trust, obey and have faith in God. I am going through some overwhelming challenges and these Scriptures speak to me that God will help us accomplish the impossible. My job—to be faithful and obedient, work hard and trust God. As my grandmother used to say, “You work like it all depends on you, but you pray because it all depends on God.” So, let’s get working and praying.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life.*
Thank you for visiting ChapLynne’s Daily Encouragement and Bible Study. God bless you.
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins, will also do.
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Replies
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That is an awesome story! I read it to my husband! He began to praise God. Our pastor tells this story. He was doing missionary work in Africa. One night during his revival, the people were really fired up. Pastor Ragland had decreed that our God was a mighty God and if you believed, He could do anything! Well. He said, a woman stepped out of the crowd and put a baby in the pastor's arms. He didn't understand what the woman was saying, so the interpreter told him, "God can do anything. Make my son well." The pastor was told that the baby had been paralyzed on his right side from birth. The pastor held the baby to his chest, fear rising up in his heart; thinking, "I know God can do this. But what if he doesn't?" He said that he'd never encountered this kind of miraculous healing before. He began to pray in faith. He held the baby close, the little still side of the baby unmoving. He prayed. After a few moments, he felt the baby begin to wriggle. He looked down and a huge smile beamed from his face. The baby was completely healed. The entire place shouted the house down with praise! God works! Who wouldn't want to serve a God like that??0
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Praise God! I love stories like this! Thanks for sharing.0
