IoT stands for Irony of Things \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
I am reading Jonah for my devotion the last few days. And to some extent I see there’re so many ironies. I will just pick two lessons which I learnt this morning:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I reach the end of Jonah 4 and read the conclusion, I cannot help but felt how similar Jonah and I. Just like Jonah who knows God so well; he could tell God that he was right that God would relent and not punish when He sees people repent. In fact from the beginning, he seems to have a pretty idea of who God is and what God’s way is. His prayer from the belly of the fish also tells so much about how he sees God who alone is able to save.<\/p>\n
Not only Jonah knows God so well, but he is one of a great prophet. He hears God spoke to him. And he enjoyed great success as a prophet. He spoke God’s message to people of Israel during Jeroboam II reign and they prospered. He obeyed God’s voice to speak against Nineveh, and they heard. Like Jonah, I could do all the works directed by God, and seeing great results out of God’s direction.<\/p>\n
Ironically, he missed on God’s heart for people. And the heart of God for people is so radical. Jonah was challenged by God to see people beyond his race and standard of deservedness. To him, Nineveh was another country, a wicked people, and enemy of his own people. But to his surprise, to God, there is only one type of mankind….all created in His image….and with a lot of labor.<\/p>\n
So yah, Jonah message is a good reminder for me. I could grow so well in my knowledge of God and doing so well in God’s work, but could miss on God’s love for people great time. Help me o God to see people with Your heart.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Fear of God that transmitted out so powerfully<\/strong><\/p>\n I could not help to marvel and desire for the kind of effectiveness of Jonah’s ministry. He didn’t talk a lot or do a lot. But he got people converted.<\/p>\n First on the boat ministry. He went down sleeping, and when he was asked, he simply said that he is a Jew who worshipped the Creator God. And that made the pagan crew feared God. And when they saw the storm stopped, they worshipped God.<\/p>\n Second, when he just travelled one day and delivered a judgmental speech,”in 40 days Nineveh would be destroyed”, he saved the whole city. I am not sure if anyone would got a high rating for giving such bad message these days, let alone to convert people, let alone the king of the country.<\/p>\n So I could not stop to “envy” at Jonah’s success and effectiveness.<\/p>\n What I picked up from the whole book and narative, is if this effectiveness and power comes from his fearing of God. It’s so powerful that people could feel and sense that this God is a terrifying God. And they should not mess up with Him. Sometimes we treat God so casually without fear and reverence. But Jonah addressed God as the One who made the Sky and the Sea. He is powerful and living.<\/p>\n O God, teach me to worship You rightly, that others might see who You are.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" IoT stands for Irony of Things \ud83d\ude42 I am reading Jonah for my devotion the last few days. And to some extent I see there’re so many ironies. I will just pick two lessons which I learnt this morning:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,8,11,20,31],"tags":[122,164,175,181,249],"class_list":["post-1551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-calm","category-encouraged","category-excited","category-gods-love","category-jonah","tag-bible-character","tag-fear","tag-god-is","tag-gods-love-2","tag-paradox"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1556,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/gods-heart-for-the-lost\/","url_meta":{"origin":1551,"position":0},"title":"God’s Heart for The Lost","author":"clay","date":"October 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I was reminded of the Bible story I read for my girls last night. It was the story of Jonah. I like the fact that this children bible story about Jonah, particularly zoom into the last episode in the book, where God challenges Jonah to take a look\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Assured"","block_context":{"text":"Assured","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/assured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/to-know-that-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":1551,"position":1},"title":"To know that love","author":"clay","date":"March 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,\u00a0may have power, together with all the Lord\u2019s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,\u00a0and to know this love that surpasses knowledge\u2014that you may be filled to the measure of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God's Love"","block_context":{"text":"God's Love","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/gods-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":742,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/argghhhh\/","url_meta":{"origin":1551,"position":2},"title":"Argghhhh…","author":"clay","date":"February 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"hehehe... uhuhuhuhuh....again... given choices to do study on book Jonah or Hosea, thought that Jonah would be too straight forward and i've done it before...so decided to do Hosea... now i'm stuck ....hehehehe.....arggghhhhh... why i like the difficult things and now complaining","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1577,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/true-hearing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1551,"position":3},"title":"True hearing","author":"clay","date":"March 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning as I read God's word, the theme of Hearing God's Word just everywhere. Here some the points that I gather: All hears, but few bears fruit. Was reading from Mark 4:1-20 where Jesus spoke in Parables and explained the meaning of the parable. There are 4 group of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blessedness"","block_context":{"text":"Blessedness","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/truth-vs-lies\/blessedness\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":155,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/what-is-that-to-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":1551,"position":4},"title":"What is that to you?","author":"clay","date":"April 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Praise the LORD, all you nations;\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0extol him, all you peoples.\u00a0For great is his love toward us,\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.Praise the LORD. ~Psalm 117 I was so fixated with my wife hospital claim about 1 month ago. I said one hurtful sentence to her afterward....\"this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Daily Life"","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/daily-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1242,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/story-of-hope\/","url_meta":{"origin":1551,"position":5},"title":"Story of Hope","author":"clay","date":"July 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, a colleague shares from the book of Ruth. It's a beautiful book of the Bible which speaks volumes. And I thank God that He tells us such moving\u00a0story. Starting from the context \"in\u00a0the days of Judges\", it was a very dark time. There were lawlessness abundant. 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