Reading for today
Old Testament: Obadiah 1, Jonah 1, 2, 3
Thoughts from today’s reading
Jonah 1:1-3. We see that the Lord gave Jonah a message for the city of Nineveh. So why did Jonah run away from the assignment he was given? The Ninevites were a brutal people and they had raided the land of Israel causing a lot of destruction, having no pity on anyone as they ravaged the land. The Israelites therefore had a serious grudge against them, so when God sent a message to say He would destroy them, Jonah must have been pleased to hear that. However, according to the scriptures if a watchman has a message of warning and does not deliver it, then the destruction will happen to those he was supposed to deliver the message to, but if he delivers it and they repent, then they will be saved. Jonah didn’t want to see them saved so he ran away in the opposite direction with the message he was given.
Prayer
1. Lord, you said we should love those who persecute us and forgive them. Father, wherever we are harbouring a grudge against anyone and thus withholding good from them, we bring it before you. Lord, we repent of a hard and unforgiving heart and ask for mercies to cleanse us. We also make up our minds to forgive, right now, those that have offended us. Lord, whatever message you have give us to deliver to them, we take it up again to declare your goodness and kindness to them instead of words of ill will and judgement. You have called us to preach the gospel of Christ even to our worst enemies, we therefore receive strength and courage to do so today in Jesus name, amen.