Already/Not Yet; August 10. 2021

Posted on August 13, 2021 by jgarrott

Matthew 21:22 “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Here, or in the slightly more specific record in Mark 11:24, Jesus says something so extreme that it is shocking. Frankly, it violates both our logic and our experience. At the same time, just about every believer has experienced answered prayer that defied probability or even logic. The thing that hangs us up about this statement is the word, “whatever.” I find myself wanting to understand not just the nuance of the Greek, but of the Aramaic in which it was probably actually spoken. I think it’s another example of the already/not yet tension we find throughout the Bible. Just this past Sunday I spoke on Answered Prayer, and I quoted the Mark passage. That message grew out of my devotions on July 30th, which have already been posted to this blog, so I don’t need to recap too much. In that I talked about how God is outside of time, but we are in the flow of it, so we perceive things differently from Him. In practical terms, apart from theoretical physics, I think that’s best expressed as “already/not yet.” Paul wrote on this issue many times. For example, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11) Apparently he himself struggled with his flesh. “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:19) Of course, this doesn’t mean in the least that we are to give up and wallow in sin; that’s what the devil wants us to do, and he’s only out to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10) God has incredible blessing prepared for us, individually and collectively, but we receive it only by faith. Genuine faith will get up after every stumble, repenting and rejoicing in the grace of God. It will recognize answered prayer, but it will not insist on a timeline for God to follow. Frankly, this is aspirational for every believer; we aren’t there fully yet! We’re back to Paul’s very clear declaration to the Philippians of his personal attitude. (Philippians 3:7-14) After that very clear statement, he follows up with, “All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” (Philippians 3:15-16) In other words, it’s all a matter of spiritual growth, and every one of us can do that.

This naturally applies to me as much as it does to anyone. I teach and counsel constantly, yet I find myself face-to-face with my own failures and limitations all too frequently. I want to have the kind of faith that asks with total assurance, and sees requests granted. I’m very much in an already/not yet situation there, for sure! I need to remember that a verse I quote often to others applies to me as well: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6) Spiritual growth is the order of the day, for me and for every other believer, until we stand before God’s throne in glory.

Father, thank You for this clear reminder. Help me keep growing! Help me not put others down for where they are on the growth scale, but rather encourage them likewise never to give up. After all, Jesus told His disciples the parable of the persistent widow “to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18:1) May I never give up, even when the “not yet” part of already/not yet seems all too pressing. Thank You for Your grace and patience toward me and all of Your children. May we indeed walk in all that You intend for us, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Marriage; August 9, 2021

Posted on August 13, 2021 by jgarrott

Matthew 19:6 “So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Because I use this passage every time I do premarital counseling, I have it essentially memorized in Japanese. As I tell the couples, some people get married thinking, “If it doesn’t work out we can always get divorced.” Such thinking is almost invariably a self-fulfilling prophecy. I could easily go on and on about this, since it is a regular part of my ministry, but I will limit myself to saying that God ordained marriage not just to ensure progeny but because men and women need each other in far more ways than the simply sexual. Despite what some are sadly insisting these days, men and women are fundamentally different in more ways that we are even aware of, and we are aware of a lot! Medically speaking, it’s somewhat remarkable that they can donate blood and organs to each other. The thing is, all those differences tend to be complementary, with each having strengths that match the other’s weaknesses. That’s one of many reasons why same-sex relationships are simply not the same as Biblical marriage. The fact that John was shown the Church as the Bride of Christ puts the absolute crown on this whole concept, and it’s why the devil works so tirelessly and vehemently to try to tear down marriage and family. The founders of the BLM organization were so honest as to state that one of their goals was the dissolution of the “traditional family!” And sadly, that’s just one example. Treating marriage as no more than a tradition, or even a convenience, leads to the serial polygamy we see in many entertainers, and the overall degradation of marital happiness and satisfaction in society as a whole. Failure to work out communication and conflicts is directly equivalent to cancer, because the body, that is the marriage, is fighting against itself. I’m not at all saying that people should never get out of abusive relationships, but this is more fundamental than that, even. The relationship should never be abusive in the first place! (I’d better stop, because I could literally write a book on the subject!)

Of course, this applies to me as much as it does to the people I counsel. It is always very sad when people involved in marriage counseling get divorced themselves. That doesn’t necessarily mean that their advice was bad, but just that they didn’t apply it fully to themselves. It’s always a temptation for an “expert” to think they are above the rules they espouse – as a look at politicians will tell you immediately! For myself, I am very grateful to have married at the age of 20, 52 years ago. I was so eager to get married because I had watched my parents’ relationship, and it was extremely attractive to me. I entered marriage with the expectation that it would be the biggest job of my life, and have the greatest rewards. That expectation has certainly been fulfilled! Today, people look at my wife and me somewhat in awe, but I don’t think God intends us to be an anomaly. Our relationship isn’t perfect, despite what some people think, but we are still growing, and expect to keep doing so as long as we are on this earth. It is a high privilege to point other couples in the same direction.

Father, thank You for marriage, and particularly for the marriage You have given Cathy and me. May our relationship be the open channel of Your grace and love that You intend it to be, not just to each other but to all who observe us, destroying the lies of the devil and bringing You glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Growing Faith; August 8, 2021

Posted on August 10, 2021 by jgarrott

Matthew 14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

This story is certainly a “Sunday school staple,” told to every child in church, but with equal frequency it is dismissed as fable by skeptics of all stripes. When everything about Jesus’ life was intentional, we have to wonder just why Jesus did this. It is an immediate followup to His feeding a huge crowd – 5000 men plus women and children – with one boy’s lunch. In that He demonstrated His authority over the physical universe in the process of meeting human need. Here, the immediate need doesn’t seem as obvious. He evidently had something of the sort in mind when He sent his disciples away while he stayed on a mountainside to pray, (verse 23) but why do it? It was a further demonstration that He was the Lord, period, as the disciples themselves recognized. (verse 33) He knew that the events of the crucifixion would shake them to the core, and He wanted them to have a foundation that would stand up to that. His words to Peter here are actually gentle, urging him to have deeper faith. (The Japanese here says, “You are a person of shallow/thin faith. Why did you doubt?”) I think He was actually pleased that Peter had managed to take at least a few steps on the water. That’s doubtless more than I could do! The challenge to believers down through the ages is to trust that when God says to do something, nothing else matters, not even the “laws” of physics, as we understand them.

This story is depicted in three oil paintings that are on the walls of a hallway of this building. At the time we were building it, James Van Farrow and his wife Roxanne were living in the area, and not only attended our services but helped out with the construction of the building. Jim is an artist, and unknown to us, he was painting with us in mind when he went home. There is a small painting of the overall scene, obviously at night, with Jesus grasping Peter’s extended hands to pull him up out of the water. There are also two large paintings, one of Peter, sinking in a panic, reaching up his hands for help, and the other of Jesus, very calm and already grasping Peter’s hands. Jim said that he was inspired to do the paintings by what we were doing, because it seemed just as impossible as walking on water! I don’t know about that, but I do know that over the years the Lord has demonstrated His sovereignty to me in more ways than I could count. I know to the depths of my being that nothing is too difficult for Him, but I still waver at my part in His plans. Like Peter, I may have taken a few steps on the water, but I still panic at times! I need to keep growing, not only in believing but also in living out my faith, so that God’s purposes may indeed be accomplished in and through me on His schedule for His glory.

Father, thank You for this encouraging reminder. As usual, there’s a lot going on, and I tend to stress out at the conflicting demands. Thank You for all You’ve enabled us to do over the past two days. Thank You for Your plans for today. Thank You for Your plans for the coming week, with my photo show in the City Gallery. I pray that in everything I may be obedient and useful to You, drawing people to You for Your glory alone. Thank You. Praise God!

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Ministry; August 7, 2021

Posted on August 10, 2021 by jgarrott

Matthew 10:7-8 “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

The prayer in today’s reading is in 9:38, where Jesus tells His disciples, and by extension us, to ask God for harvest workers, but this chapter is about Jesus Himself sending out harvest workers, and they were some of the very people He had been talking to, telling them to pray. This is one of the fundamental principles of prayer that too often gets overlooked: any time we pray for something, we need to be open to being used by God to answer our own prayer. That said, this passage is of extreme importance to anyone who answers the call to ministry. I really like the NIV here (for once). My understanding is that it is indeed being true to the Greek grammar when it says, “as you go.” Ministry isn’t something you do after you get somewhere, it’s a lifestyle. I recall one time fresh out of seminary, if I’m not mistaken, when we were on a fairly long trip and stopped at a truck stop. I had a bumper sticker on my car that said, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” As I was pumping gas, someone at the next pump over noticed the sticker and said to me, “Not perfect, eh?” I didn’t launch into “The Four Spiritual Laws” or anything else, but just replied, “Definitely not.” I’m not sure what else I said, just a few words, but I had the distinct impression that I had given a clear, and strong, witness to that man. That’s the kind of thing Jesus is talking about here, I think. Divine appointments don’t show up in the calendar app on our phone! We are to be open and available to the Holy Spirit 24/7/365, not “saving up” for “revival meetings,” or even for when we are at church. Actually, church services should be focused on ministry to God, and the rest of the time we’re to be ministering to people. It is also of great importance that Jesus was clear that ministry is to be without charge. He goes on to say that ministers are to be well taken care of, but it must not be on the basis of a bill for services rendered. There have been countless violations of that principle! If we fail to remember that God is the supply for our physical needs, we will find that the supply of spiritual power for ministry dries up as well, and that is sad indeed.

Since I have been in “full-time ministry” for well over half of my life, this is of extreme relevance to me. Of the specific areas of ministry Jesus mentioned here, I’ve never raised a dead person and I’ve never encountered anyone with leprosy, but I have certainly been aware of God operating through me. The amazing thing to me is that He would use even me to do it! I seek always to help believers grasp that God wants to use them as well. Too many people think their failures and weaknesses are too great for God to overcome! When we gauge our “ministry potential” by our own abilities, we are cutting God out of the picture altogether, and that guarantees failure. I have had to learn that when Paul said, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength,” (Philippians 4:13) that applies to absolutely everything He asks me to do. My ministry is effective only to the degree that I allow Him to operate through me; I can’t possibly do it on my own.

Father, thank You for this strong reminder. Thank You for the privilege of blessing a brother and sister yesterday. That felt good! Thank You for using me in various ways, big and small. Help me be increasingly available as Your minister, so that people will know, recognize, and respond to Your love, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Jesus’ Authority; August 6, 2021

Posted on August 9, 2021 by jgarrott

Matthew 8:10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”

This is a famous story, but do we really understand it? Luke 7 clarifies that the centurion didn’t actually go to Jesus himself, but asked some of the local Jewish elders to go deliver his request. That is to say, he thought that as a Gentile he might not be received, but Jewish intermediaries might have a better chance. That, along with his declaration, recorded both here and in Luke, that he wasn’t worthy of Jesus coming under his roof, shows an admirable humility that I think was inseparable from his faith. He knew authority when he saw it, being a man of not inconsiderable authority himself, and his faith, that astonished Jesus, was that Jesus had authority in areas that he knew he couldn’t touch. I think that too often, when we pray we don’t really believe that God can or will do what we are asking. The centurion didn’t have such reservations. After all, as a military commander he didn’t allow “wiggle room” for those under him when he told them to do something! We are totally subservient to and dependent on God, whether we acknowledge it or not. When we make requests of Him we need to be as ready to obey Him as that centurion’s legionnaires were to obey him. In proclaiming Jesus’ authority, the centurion was placing himself under that authority, and that was indeed astonishing. That’s the sort of faith we need to have!

I have lots of room to grow in exercising faith. I pray frequently and freely, but at times I wonder whether my faith and obedience are up to the task. I tend to make excuses for God, in case He doesn’t do what I’m asking! I have certainly experienced the Holy Spirit guiding my prayers, so I need to trust that He will continue to do so, with the complete assurance that when I pray in line with God’s will, what I ask is already done. I’ll be quoting Mark 11:24 in Sunday’s message on Answers to Prayer, and that’s still shocking to me: “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” I want to walk in that kind of absolute assurance, but to do so I need to walk in complete obedience as well. Jesus’ authority is absolute, (Matthew 28:18) but to operate in it I need to be absolutely submitted to Him.

Father, thank You for this strong reminder. There are times when I long to be with You out of this body, so that there can be total communication and fellowship. I get so distracted by so many things! Help me recognize Your authority to the point that I operate consistently under it and in it, so that Your perfect will may be done in and through me, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Trusting God; August 5, 2021

Posted on August 9, 2021 by jgarrott

Matthew 7:11 “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Just because a Scripture is familiar doesn’t guarantee we are living it out. This particular verse deals with the absolutely fundamental issue of trust. The problem is, even if we have this verse memorized, we sometimes have trouble believing that God really loves us enough to give us good things. The roots of that can get complicated. Not all of us had parents that consistently gave us good things when we asked, and often enough, we asked for things that weren’t good for us. Then there’s the whole issue of feeling entitled, so we don’t appreciate the things we are given, as well as the reverse of that, feeling guilty for all we’ve done to the point of feeling that God has no business giving us good things. All of those are tricks of the devil, the father of lies, to try to keep us from trusting our heavenly Father. God wants us to get back to the simple trust of a child who’s never been betrayed, to ask Daddy for what we need. The examples Jesus gave in the previous verses are pretty basic: bread and fish. (It’s of interest to me that the alternative “bad” gifts of a stone and a snake are puns in Greek, proving that the average Jew of those days had at least a basic vocabulary in Greek, and that Jesus used puns!) We tend to ask God for all sorts of things, often with little regard for what we actually need or what would be good for us. It’s definitely considered not “politically correct” these days, but with Father God, it is certainly true that “Father knows best.” We need to trust Him with that!

I had the best parents anyone could ask for, but I still hang up on this occasionally. However, God has certainly taught me over the years, and I trust that I am still growing. This past Sunday in the service we used the song, A Pure Heart, by Rusty Nelson. The date on the file indicates that I translated it into Japanese three years ago, but I didn’t really remember it when the Lord indicated we were to use it. The lyrics certainly agreed with the message, and it has been running through my mind ever since. That’s a prayer that God would certainly delight to answer! I have learned that when I really allow the Holy Spirit to direct my prayers, I pray things that God already desires, and they are always good. That’s a lesson I want all my spiritual children to learn so that we may delight in, and be delightful to, our heavenly Father.

Father, thank You for this Word. Thank You for bringing that song into my awareness this past week. Help me indeed ask You for what You already want to give me, so that I may grow closer and closer to the likeness of Christ Jesus my Lord, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Standards; August 4, 2021

Posted on August 7, 2021 by jgarrott

Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Standards are important. Without standards, it’s very hard to evaluate anything. The flip side of that is that if our standards are skewed we are in deep trouble, because we lose sight of good and bad and even right and wrong. Much of the Sermon on the Mount is dealing with mistaken standards. We tend to make people our standards, but as Paul said, “When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” (2 Corinthians 10:12) With this verse, Jesus put the ultimate end to that. When God is our standard, there is no room for pride! Every honest believer knows they are a work in progress, as Paul himself famously declared, (Philippians 3:12-14) but we aren’t to be neurotic about it. As again Paul said, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” (1 Corinthians 4:3-4) We aren’t to keep picking at ourselves, but we aren’t to be stagnant either. As so many people have realized, life is very much a journey, and we need to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It’s not that nothing is ever good enough; that sort of perfectionism is a curse. However, as satisfactory as one thing might be, we always have other areas in which to improve. And, for that matter, we all have a tendency to backslide, too. Just because we did something right one time doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll do it right the next time. We are to recognize our total dependence on God, but not in a negative way. As again Paul said, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) It’s for sure we can’t meet God’s standard in our own strength and wisdom, but He will enable us to do everything He calls us to do.

I probably struggle with this as much as the next guy. I have a strong perfectionist streak, but at the same time I have a tendency to throw it all in and say, “What the hey.” Neither is good or even healthy. With numbers of things (such as cleaning my study) I tend to give up before I start, but with some other things I keep tweaking them endlessly, never satisfied. That’s one of many reasons the Lord told me explicitly to rest, relax, and rejoice. At the same time that I recognize that He is the standard, so I will never reach it in this life, I need to remember that “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13) And, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6) Paul dealt with this issue a lot in writing to the Philippians! A big issue for me has been in demanding perfection of others, and that is a big mistake. I need to praise effort and improvement, even while reminding them that, as Jesus said, God is our standard, so we’re all in this together.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for your grace toward me! Help me be an unpolluted channel of that grace toward those around me, so that we may all move closer and closer to You, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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God’s Supply; August 3, 2021

Posted on August 5, 2021 by jgarrott

Zechariah 10:1 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
it is the Lord who makes the storm clouds.
He gives showers of rain to men,
and plants of the field to everyone.

I think many modern readers completely miss the significance of this verse. We are so urbanized that we associate water only with a faucet or a swimming pool. We have lost sight of the reality that for us to have fresh water, it has to evaporate from the seas and the ground, condense into clouds, and then precipitate as rain or snow. On top of that, back when this was written, many cultures thought of Baal as “the storm god.” Zechariah is telling the people to stop praying to Baal if they need rain. That’s why the next verse refers to idols. He’s telling the people to ask for what they need, but to be sure they don’t ask the wrong god. Jesus put it in terms that apply to every age and culture: “Give us today the food we need for today.” (Matthew 6:11) Asking for needs to be met is one of the fundamental elements of prayer. (I would say that the others are praise, thanks, and intercession.) We needn’t feel guilty about asking! Whereas it is certainly true that God knows our needs before we ask Him, (Matthew 6:8) asking Him helps us understand that everything we have comes from Him. Because that factor is so important, often we don’t have because we don’t ask! (James 4:2) When things are abundant, we almost universally fall into taking them for granted, and that can be very dangerous. It is likewise dangerous to think that we somehow control the supply. We are expected to be industrious, but the supply is ultimately, and always, from God.

This of course applies to me just as it does to everyone. Growing up in a Southern Baptist missionary household, I wasn’t aware of a direct connection between my parents’ activities and our family income. Thankfully, we didn’t have to beg people for money, as many missionaries are required to do, but I did grow up with the rather amorphous feeling that God was our supply. Right now, collecting both minimum Social Security as well as the minimum Japanese public pension, I have the risk of feeling that the government is my supply! Actually, there are those in the US who are actively working to promote that thinking, but it is dangerous on many levels, as well as being idolatrous. We have a self-employed house painter in the church, and he is well aware that unless God supplies customers, he has no income. Frankly, that’s not an enviable position. I need to ask God for His supply not only for my own needs but also for the needs of those around me, and be willing to be a channel of that supply as I do so.

Father, thank You for Your gracious supply. Help me be the steward You want me to be of all that You supply, so that in everything Your purposes may be accomplished on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Faith; August 2, 2021

Posted on August 4, 2021 by jgarrott

Habakkuk 3:18-19 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

I have long had a warm spot in my heart for Habakkuk, not only for this beautiful prayer but also for 2:1-3, which has been given to us and to this church on three separate occasions by three different people who didn’t know each other. And of course, 2:4 contains the famous line that sparked the Reformation: “The righteous shall live by faith.” All of that is to say that the “Minor Prophets” are called that strictly because of the length of their books, and not as a reference to their importance. These closing verses of Habakkuk’s brief book are a moving and powerful encouragement to any believer. We all tend to get caught up in our circumstances, rejoicing in physical peace and plenty and being distressed at turmoil and lack. Habakkuk was writing in a time of war and famine, which have killed hundreds of millions of people down through the centuries. Verse 16 indicates that he was very reasonably scared witless, and then we come to this powerful declaration of faith: “Yet.” He doesn’t deny his circumstances, but he declares that in spite of them he will rejoice in the Lord. I want to be that kind of “yeti!” (Not a brand name, but what is also called “the abominable snowman.) That is the opposite of what are called “snowflakes,” people who melt at the slightest hint of difficulty or opposition. Snowflakes have no idea what it is to rejoice in the Lord! This is the purest form of faith, agreeing with Paul: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)

This is certainly applicable to me! I have certainly had some tight times, and some tumultuous ones as well. I have indeed learned that God is the very definition of faithfulness. However, my faith is still far from perfect. I need to learn better to rejoice before I see God’s deliverance! I need to remember the story of the Bible smuggler in the days of the Soviet Union who was very anxious going into customs inspection, knowing he could be arrested and jailed indefinitely for all the Bibles in his bag. However, the customs inspector seemed completely blind to the Bibles that were in plain sight, and the man rejoiced as he crossed to the exit area. However, the Lord said to him, “You’re rejoicing on the wrong side of the room.” He should have rejoiced in faith before he saw what God would do! That story has come back to me many times since I first read it. I know that I won’t enter into the full joy of my Lord (Matthew 25:21) until I do so in faith, regardless of what my senses and my intellect tell me. Thinking about it, I know that the day of my physical death will be the day of my greatest joy, because I will go to meet with my Lord! With that assurance, I need to rejoice at every lesser hurdle as well, in growing faith.

Father, thank You for this strong reminder. Help me indeed walk in anticipatory joy, knowing that Your plans are indeed for my good, (Jeremiah 29:11) whatever I am going through at any given moment. May I be so assured of You and Your goodness that I am totally obedient to You in every detail, for Your will to be done in and through me for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Anger; August 1, 2021

Posted on August 4, 2021 by jgarrott

Jonah 4:9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”
“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”

Jonah is probably the most famous of the group called “the minor prophets” (because the books with their names are short). However, he is also probably the least admirable of all the genuine prophets! In the first place, he did his utmost to run away from God’s commission on his life, and in verse two of this chapter he gives a very ignoble reason for his actions, as though it were an excuse. God doesn’t let him get away unanswered, though. We don’t know how this particular interchange came to be recorded, but that seems like a small issue compared to the whole matter of Jonah being in the whale for three days! That said, the whole thing about Jonah was how very human he was. He wasn’t very dedicated and he certainly wasn’t compassionate. That makes it all the more significant that God used him in spite of all that, and even used him as a direct foreshadowing of Jesus’ time in death. (Matthew 16:4) We don’t have to worry whether our vaults and failures are too big for God to use us! Among Jonah’s many faults was his conviction that he had a “right” to be angry. Anger is a very natural emotion, and rightly used it can be a powerful motivator for good, but when we start thinking of it as a right, as Jonah did, we are valuing it for its own sake, and that is very destructive. Jonah himself said, “I am angry enough to die.” Anger does the most damage to the one who is angry! Right now there are an almost unlimited number of things in the world to make us angry, from fraud and injustice in government all the way down to people cutting us off in traffic. We need to be very careful what we allow to make us angry. Outer-directed, the ultimate expression of anger is murder. Inner-directed, it is suicide. Anger nursed is always destructive, regardless of the justification. That’s why God tells us so clearly, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay.” (Deuteronomy 32:35) (Older translations say, “Vengeance is mine,” which somehow seems meatier and more satisfying.) There is much to make us angry, even rightly so, but if we hang onto that anger, we and others will suffer needlessly. We need to release it into God’s hands.

Recently my wife made a joke based on something the Lord spoke directly to me several years ago, which I quote frequently. She said, “What was that three-r saying? Rest, relax, revenge?” (It’s actually, rest, relax, rejoice.) I have learned the hard way that the longer I hang onto anger, the worse things get. I actually really dislike getting angry, so when it happens, I get angry that I’m angry! That’s certainly a self-defeating cycle. If I were never to get angry, that would not be following the example of Jesus, who drove the merchants out of the Court of the Gentiles with a whip! (John 2:15) However, I must be very careful to let the Lord direct my anger where it rightly belongs, and not be like Jonah. I think anger is analogous to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is extremely valuable in some cases of surgery and injury but is easily fatal in overdose. Being “angry that I’m angry” doesn’t solve anything either! I need to be an instrument of God’s grace, mercy, and love, even toward those who provoke me to anger – including myself!

Father, thank You for this clear Word. I don’t think there’s anything in it You haven’t said to me before, though. Help me apply it fully! May everything about me be fully submitted to You, to accomplish that for which You intend it, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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