God is Concerned
Jonah 4:9 – God said to Jonah, “Are you really so very angry about the little plant?” And he said, “I am as angry as I could possibly be!” 10 – The LORD said, “You were upset about this little plant, something for which you have not worked nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next day. 11 – Should I not be even more concerned about Nineveh, this enormous city? There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong, as well as many animals!”
Jonah seemed quick to forget about how concerned God was for him. God was so concerned about Jonah that He not only sent a storm, but he sent a fish and surrounded Jonah and protected him in an environment fatal to human life. That fish was Jesus!
God was so concerned about Nineveh that He sent Jonah with a message that applied to every person. Heeding the message would protect the city from the consequences of their actions that would have been fatal to all life. That message was gospel! They believed in God as a result!
Jesus is so concerned about this world and every person in it that perhaps He is sending you or has placed you in your family or in your community with a message of what God has done for you! Has he not enveloped you with His grace and surrounded you with His protective presence? Like Jonah was in the fish, so can we be in Christ, completely inside His person so that no one can remove us from Him! It is Jesus who can protect us from caving in to the pressures, stresses, deceptions, and allurements of this life!
Instead of being quick to condemn, like Jonah condemning Nineveh, let us be concerned for others and be quick to forgive and remember that God wants to envelop each one with His love just as He has enveloped me and you!
Where two are gathered 