TODAY'S VERSE:

Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Luke 9:62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

In Prep School, we have started a study on Jonah! Do you know who he is? He was a prophet in the Old Testament who was given a special mission from God. He was ordered to preach the Gospel to a sinful place that God was about to destroy. Jonah said “no” and ran away from the plan. He lacked mercy and, in effect, went “AWOL” on the plan of God, just like today’s verse describes.

The sinful place the LORD God told Jonah to go was Nineveh. He didn’t want to go there because the Ninevites were enemies of Israel and Jonah was from Israel! So, he went in the opposite direction, hopped on a boat, and BAM- God caused a huge storm. Jonah told the captain and crew that he was the reason for the storm and that he was running away from the LORD. He then told them to throw him overboard so the storm would stop.

Jonah 1:15 So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.

Jonah went from being committed to the LORD God, to running away from His plan, and then to accepting responsibility for his negative decision. Once he accepted his responsibility, he was delivered by God’s grace from the disaster of the stormy sea. God had a big fish swallow Jonah! Now you might not think spending time in the belly of a fish is deliverance, but it was a perfect place for Jonah. It gave him time to be alone with the LORD and to pray. After 3 days and nights, God had the big fish put Jonah back on dry land, giving him another amazing deliverance! Then God told him again to go to Nineveh.
 
Jonah 3:1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”
 
God wanted Jonah to tell the Ninevites to change their thinking and wicked ways. They were to believe in God or in 40 days their great city would be overthrown. Jonah went to Nineveh and taught them. Because of that, thousands of Ninevites turned from their wicked ways! God saved the city of Nineveh from destruction. God had mercy on the Ninevites.
 
Jonah 3:10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
 
Now Jonah became upset because God had mercy on the Ninevites. Jonah wanted God to have mercy on him, butnot on his enemies! In fact, he wanted to be an obstacle to their repentance! Jonah was honest with God and told Him this was the reason he didn’t go to Nineveh in the first place. They were his enemies! He didn’t want to have mercy on them. He didn’t want to be compassionate and treat them kindly! Jonah was acting on his emotions rather than on the thinking of God.

God wants all of us to learn to treat our friends and our enemies with mercy! We have to learn through His word about His mercy with us. We have to see that God IS mercy and God IS kindness! Through Scripture and life experiences, God the Holy Spirit will teach us how to have a lifestyle of mercy and grace. He will give us the power to have it. We can learn to use mercy and grace with everyone, not just certain people! Sure, we’ll stumble like Jonah did. Our flesh hates mercy and grace! It will always try to turn us away from God’s mercy and grace. That’s one of the reasons we need to grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  He shows us what true mercy is. By seeing Christ’s heart of mercy toward undeserving mankind, that includes ourselves, we can learn to have a heart of mercy for others.  He will transform us and use us in His perfect plan. It’s our job to stick with God’s plan and not go “AWOL”!
 
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.