Grace

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 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..." -Jonah 4:1-2 (NIV)

In today's suggested scripture reading, I am reminded of how often we want God to give other people exactly what we think they deserve but we don't want God to give us what we deserve. You would think that we'd be so aware of our own need for grace that we'd be more inclined to extend (and want God to extend) God's grace to others.

The word of the Lord comes to Jonah and tells him to go to Nineveh and preach against the city because of its wickedness. But Jonah runs away from the Lord and boards a boat heading in the opposite direction. Then the Lord sends a great wind on the sea and the storm is so great that it almost breaks up the boat. The sailors on board determine that Jonah is running away from his God and therefore responsible for the storm threatening their lives. To stop the storm, the sailors pick up Jonah and throw him overboard. Suddenly the raging sea grows calm. Jonah realizes that he deserves death for disobeying God but God spares him. The Lord tells him a second time to go to Nineveh and this time Jonah goes.

When he arrives in Nineveh and tells the people that they will be overthrown in 40 days, they repent and believe in God. This makes Jonah angry. He confesses that the reason he didn't want to go to Nineveh in the first place is because he hated the Ninevites and he didn't want God to forgive them; instead he wants God to destroy them. Jonah has experienced the grace of God for himself but did not want God to extend that grace to his enemies.

Today, may God grant you the grace to be mindful of how different your own life would be if you had not received grace and may you be more willing to extend grace to others.

If you're interested in reading through the Bible in a year, tomorrow's suggested readings are 2 Kings 13-14, 2 Chronicles 25, and 2 Timothy 3.