A reaaly insightful devotional

This is day 30 of a devotional I'm receiving from www.secretbelievers.org.
I thought it was really good, good enough to share ;-)

"He prayed to the Lord, 'O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity'" (Jonah 4:2).

Jonah preached judgment to Nineveh. We love to condemn our enemies. Isn't that why there is so much war? We are determined to fight God's wars and we're always so sure that God is on our side.

We're not so sure that we're on God's side. If we were, if we truly agreed with God, we would be witnesses to all the world for Jesus Christ.

Jonah suspected all along what God would do with Nineveh. He knew in Jonah 1:1 when the Word of the Lord came to him. That's why he ran away from God. Jonah knew that if he preached the word of God, Nineveh would repent. Then God would be gracious and He would forgive.

He will do the same for you - if you repent and turn from sin.

How did Jo nah know? It was in his Bible. Jonah's prayer sounds amazingly similar to the revelation of God to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7. Jonah knew about God because he knew God's Book.

If we know God and love God, then we will...
know His Book,
love His Book,
obey His Book.

Jonah knew the book, but he still argued with God. Obedience is not automatic. We need to strive to understand God and His Book. The amazing thing is that God is so patient with Jonah. He even answers Jonah.

Jonah can argue with God and God doesn't condemn him.