Thought for April 19, 2024

  •  1775: "Shot heard round the world"--Lexington MA
  • 1854: Charles Haddon Spurgeon [age 19] called to pastor New Park Chapel, London
  • 1892: Charles Duryea takes the first American made auto for a drive
  • 1897: First Boston Marathon
  • 1934: Shirley Temple's first feature film--"Stand Up and Cheer"
  • 1943: Jews refuse to give up the Warsaw Ghetto--Nazis attack beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
  • 1963: Johnny Cash releases single--"Ring of Fire." Written by June Carter and Merle Haggard
  • 1971: Sentencing of Charles Manson
  • 1982: Sally Ride named the first female astronaut and Guino Bluford named the first black astronaut
  • 1993: After a 51-day siege, 76 Branch Davidians die near Waco
  • 1995: Timothy McVeigh explodes a truck bomb in Oklahoma City killing 168 and injuring 500.
  • 2020: Covid death toll reaches 40,000
  • Born: Eliot Ness, Frank Fontaine, Hugh O'Brian, Dick Sargent, Jayne Mansfield, Dudley Moore, Al Unser Jr., Ashley Judd, Kate Hudson, Maria Sharapova
  • Died: Roger Williams [colonist], Lord Byron, Dudley Tyng [urged people to stand up for Jesus, inspiring the hymn], Charles Darwin, Daphne du Maurier, Doc Blanchard, Greta Waitz [marathoner]
Thought:
Reading Jonah 4:1-4 this morning. Nineveh has confessed and repented and God has removed the sentence of death. Jonah's proclamation of God's truth has resulted in thousands of lives coming to acknowledge Jehovah. And what is Jonah's reaction--he is displeased and angry. Jonah's hatred for the Assyrians overrides his caring for the peoples' salvation. God saves my enemy and I cannot stand it. God blesses my enemy and it causes anger in my heart. This makes me wonder how I react to the conversion of people who have been intentionally bad to me. Do I celebrate their eternal life, or is my gratitude colored by by anger/hatred. 

Not only is Jonah upset that God has spared Nineveh, Jonah wants God to take his life. Is Jonah truly hoping God will take his life? Have you ever hated someone so much that your prayed, I'd rather lose my life than have my enemy be redeemed.  Now notice God's response to Jonah--do you have a good reason to be angry? What a question! When I get mad with someone or something, maybe I should ask myself this question--do I have a good reason to be so mad? Most of the time, my answer would have to be "no," And neither did Jonah. 

Maybe it would be a good exercise to ask myself, do I really have reason to be angry?  The Lord has plenty of reason to be mad at me, but do I really have good reason to be mad at God or at others.  We often say love the sinner and hate the sin, but do I really do that? Lord, teach me to love as You love, to forgive as You forgive and to be angry about the things that make you angry. What a difference that would make in my life. 

Blessings
Larry

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