Pervasive Love

May 28, 2017 Background Scripture: Jonah 4 Lesson Passage: Jonah 4 As Chapter 2 closed with Jonah in prayer recognizing God as the Lord of salvation, so Chapter 4 begins with Jonah praying in anger because God has spared the Ninevites. It is ironic how we are okay with God going the extra mile for us but we are not always compassionate and thankful when we see God do the same for others. In prayer, Jonah declared the reason for his disobedience when first called by God to deliver a message to Nineveh. Jonah knew that God would show compassion to the Ninevites if they repented of their deeds. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. The Assyrians were bitter enemies of Israel and they were known for their cruelty to captors during times of war. Jonah wanted God to destroy the Ninevites. Jonah did not want to warn the Assyrians because he knew that there was the possibility of them repenting if warned and God would spare them. Rather than work against his own desires for his enemies, Jonah chose to run from the mission God assigned to him. Prophesying can be easy when God is doing what we think He should do. However, when there is the possibility that God might show kindness towards those we despise, we would rather not be involved in it at all. The commandment to pray for our enemies is a difficult responsibility when we know who our enemies are, what they are doing that is harmful to us, and what they have done. It’s no big deal to ask God to bless our enemies when we don’t give them a name or a title. But when we know who they are, then sincere prayer for them is a challenge to our spirituality. Jonah is angry with God and while in this state of mind, he asks God to take his life. In the first prayer, Jonah thanked God for preserving his life. Jonah preferred to die rather than see his enemies blessed by God as a result of his prophesying to them. God’s question for Jonah was “Do you have a good reason to be angry?” God used Jonah’s attitude towards a vine that he enjoyed the shade of one day and the next day a worm destroyed to teach him a lesson. Jonah felt compassion for the life of a vine because he enjoyed its shade until the worm killed it. God pointed out to Jonah that he had nothing to do with the life that was in that vine. God caused the vine to come up overnight and to die overnight without any help from Jonah. When God asked Jonah about the vine, Jonah stated that he had a good reason to be angry because of what happened to the vine. God declared that He had a good reason to have compassion on the city of Nineveh because there were over 120,000 people living there and many animals. The Ninevites did not know how to discern right and wrong. Jonah’s preaching is what enlightened them. Although Judaism did not develop into an evangelistic religion, God’s covenant with Abraham was for all nations to be blessed through his offspring. Jonah was clear that he did not desire for that blessing to flow through him if it was going to benefit the enemies of Israel. In spite of this, God still displayed His pervasive love that is available for whosoever will receive it. Robert C. Hudson April 13, 2017

Forgiving Love

May 21, 2017 Background Scripture: Jonah 3; Nahum 1 – 3 Lesson Passage: Jonah 3 We all need forgiveness. The good, the bad, the kind, the mean, and the evil all need forgiving. For we have all sinned and don’t measure up to God’s standard of righteousness. If we had the option, we could all use some “do overs”. Unfortunately, life does not afford us the opportunity to rewind and delete unwanted scenes and then continue moving forward. Whatever we have said or done is part of our history. We cannot delete it, expunge it, or modify it. The best we can do is to seek and receive forgiveness for misdeeds and misspoken words. We cannot erase pain that has been inflicted or disappointment that has arisen because of our words or actions. If we receive forgiveness for them, then we can learn from past mistakes and move forward. When we learn better, we should do better. It is good to receive another chance. After spending three days and nights inside the great fish, Jonah was given a second chance by God to do His bidding. Jonah was sent to proclaim judgment against the people of Nineveh because they were offending God. The message God gave Jonah to deliver was quite terse. There was no mistaking what God had said concerning Nineveh’s future. In forty days, the entire city of Nineveh would be destroyed. This was a wakeup call to the Ninevites. The message caused the people of Nineveh to fear God’s impending judgment and they all began to fast and pray. Even the king lay aside his royal vesture and put on sackcloth and went into mourning. The king also issued a royal decree that commanded all of Nineveh’s citizens to cease from eating and drinking. They were to stop feeding and watering their animals as well. The decree called for everyone to pray to God in sincerity and to stop whatever actions they might have been taking that would have been considered evil. The purpose of the king’s decree was made clear: perhaps God would change His mind when He sees their sincere repentance and spare their lives. This is exactly what God did. God saw the great repentance that took place throughout Nineveh. This was one of the greatest revivals recorded in the Bible. As a result of the Ninevites’ actions, God forgave them and spared their lives. Jonah’s prophecy provided a very stern warning that God was going to destroy Nineveh based on their spiritual condition. I believe that God is always warning us against the actions that we take or the lifestyles we choose to live. Those warnings are like a traffic sign that warns motorists to turn around because the bridge ahead is out. The motorists have an option. They can turn around and not continue on that route or they can continue to move in the same direction they were headed prior to the warning sign. Those who stop and turn around will be spared but those who continue on will face calamity. God, in His omniscience, always knows when we are traveling on a road towards destruction. Because of His forgiving love, He sends us warnings to turn around to avoid destruction. It is up to us to heed the warning or continue on and face the consequences. Robert C. Hudson April 12, 2017

Preserving Love

May 14, 2017 Background Scripture: Jonah 2 Lesson Passage: Jonah 2 In last week’s lesson, the pagan sailors feared for their lives because the raging storm was threatening to destroy their ship. They each called upon their god and woke Jonah from sleep and urged him to do the same. (It is a sad state of affairs when pagans have to remind the man of God to pray!) Jonah didn’t bother to pray but instead gave them the solution to their problem: Jonah needed to be removed from the ship. They reluctantly threw Jonah overboard and the storm ceased. Last week’s lesson closed with God sustaining Jonah’s life by engulfing him in the belly of a large fish He had prepared just for that purpose. (It is worth noting that it was over two thousand three hundred years after this that man invented the first submarine with an inner environment where human life could survive in the depths of the sea for that amount of time.) Today’s lesson focuses on God as the author of salvation for all who put their trust in Him. The lesson opens with Jonah inside of the fish and in prayer without being prompted to do so. From within the great fish, Jonah prayerfully reflected on how God had answered his prayer and delivered him from a sure death in the sea. Jonah knew that God’s love was preserving him from what should have been a quick death in the stormy water. At this point, Jonah offered God all that he had and that was the fruit of his lips as a sacrifice of thanksgiving. It is not clear if Jonah expected to continue to live or he was thankful because he did not want to die by drowning. In other words, I don’t know if Jonah’s prayer was a thanksgiving for sparing his life or a thanksgiving for giving him a more desirable form of death—after all, he is still in the belly of the fish and not riding on the back of a dolphin. Perhaps God revealed to Jonah that he was going to continue to live beyond his current situation. For three days and nights, Jonah was neither drowning nor being digested by the fish. He knew God was preserving him. That would indeed evoke a prayer of thanksgiving when his previous situation of hopelessness in the sea outside of the fish is considered. There are some situations we just have to talk to someone about. So Jonah talked to God. God preserved Jonah inside the fish while he prayed. However, when Jonah proclaimed that salvation comes from the Lord, then the Lord commanded the fish to vomit Jonah out on dry land. We don’t know if the fish was on or at the dry land during Jonah’s prayer or not. But we do know that it did not vomit Jonah out into the sea but Jonah was preserved because he was vomited on dry land. Jonah’s declaration that God is the author of salvation was as far as he needed to get in that prayer. Just as God was saving Jonah from the sea, He was also willing to save the Ninevites from destruction. He is the author of salvation and He preserves us to the point where we can respond to His offer of salvation. Jonah was now ready to do the bidding of God and carry God’s message to Nineveh because God had preserved him. Robert C. Hudson March 27, 2017