Oct. 23 Devotion: Rules For Thee, Not For Me

Rules For Thee, Not For Me

Jonah 4:1

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

If you read just this verse, you’d almost believe something bad had potentially happened that has Jonah so upset. However, when you read the last verse in chapter 3 we see what has Jonah upset.

Jonah 3:10

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.

Imagine seeing God deliver someone and then being upset by it. To think that just shortly before this, Jonah’s life was spared by God, and now when God does the same thing for the nation of Nineveh, Jonah is displeased.

You might be able to sit there and say that you’d never be displeased over the Lord changing someone’s life. Even if it was your biggest enemy, you’d still rejoice over God  changing their life.

What about other areas of our lives? We have political parties that want to point fingers back and forth at each other over the same things. I believe the old saying goes, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” Do we apply that to our own lives? How quick do we want forgiveness, yet want someone to prove they are worthy of our forgiveness? We desire friends to be there for us, yet we can never seem to find the time for them. We find out someone is talking about us behind our back, and we become upset, all the while forgetting all we’ve said ourselves. I find it best to never say anything behind someone’s back that we wouldn’t say to their face.

It seems a lot want rules for thee, not for me.

The problem with Jonah wasn’t that he didn’t understand God’s mercy. He had experienced it firsthand! The problem was that he wanted mercy for himself but judgment for others. I wonder how often we’re guilty of the same thing. We want God to be patient with our shortcomings, yet we’re quick to point out the shortcomings of others. We want grace when we fail, but sometimes struggle to extend that same grace when someone fails us. Maybe the question we need to ask ourselves today isn’t why Jonah was so angry, but how much of Jonah do we see in ourselves?

God bless,

Bro. Josh Richardson