HIS WAYS ARE NOT OURS

DAY 279 OF 365 IN 2021

Jonah 3:10-4:1 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

Today’s text is quite an interesting one. We read about Jonah and the aftermath of His message to Nineveh. In earlier verses, we can recall how the Ninevites promptly responded to the call to repentance and changed their ways. As a result, God also resisted and the intended destruction against the city of over 120,000 inhabitants was aborted. It is this action of God that made Jonah so angry and he did not hold back in expressing his displeasure to God.

In a way, it was quiet strange that the preacher of the message was unhappy that the message had borne fruits. But even more importantly, it was Jonah’s discourse with God which is our point for reflection.

My mind was drawn to the book of Isaiah, where it is written “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9). Therefore, regardless of the expectations of man, God’s ways remain His very own.

He does let man into this realm every now and again, but that invitation is not to overrule or dictate to Him, it is to bring the creature  into a partnership with the creature. Furthermore, the displeasure of Jonah was never going to be enough reason for the God of all flesh, the gracious and merciful God, who is slow to anger and abounds in steadfast love; to lose His attributes, for the sole reason of making only one creature happy. His ways are higher than that.

#sly