May 22 Devotion: The Overseeer

The Overseeer

Jonah 4:5

So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

This past week in our Bible Institute, we covered the book of Jonah. While reading through it again, this particular passage really stuck out to me this time. We know by this point Jonah has gone in and preached in Nineveh. We know they repented, and God did not overthrow them. According to Scripture, this caused Jonah to become angry.

Jonah 4:1

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

As I then got to verse 4, something occurred to me, and Bro. Adrian even mentioned this as well. What do you think Jonah is doing here in verse 4? Do we really believe he’s sitting and waiting for the Lord to pour out blessing on the people of Nineveh? Or is it more than likely that he’s sitting and waiting on them to mess up so he can see Gods judgment rained down on them? Jonah was so displeased with what had taken place that he sat there hoping to see what he wanted to happen to the people of Nineveh. It’s almost as if he thought they’d mess up and he could then look to God and say, “See, I told you so. I knew they didn’t deserve deliverance.”

Do you find yourself ever doing that same thing? Instead of praying for someone, instead of trying to encourage someone, instead of lifting them up, we watch them, waiting for them to mess up. We have a society that seems to look more for an I gotcha moment rather than look for times to say good job. Do you look for those I told you so moments or reasons to encourage? We all fail the grace of God, but God isn’t sitting and waiting for us to mess up each day. Why do we then think we have the authority to do that to others?

Instead of waiting to jump on someone, be an encouragement to someone today! Pray for someone today!

God bless,

Bro. Josh Richardson