Detestable in God's sight beloved. Ironically, it is the most prideful who often use the "God knows my heart" theology. This is used to excuse words and deeds but they fail to remember what it truly means:
"The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Jeremiah 17: 9 (NLT)
Don't worry; God does know our hearts and that should be a sobering fact not a place of refuge. Jonah would preach repentance to Nineveh and they would in fact repent. But his heart was still set against them and their repentance only furthered his angst.
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 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. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." Jonah 4: 1-3
We try to do the same don't we? We can see the goodness of God and because it flies in the face of what we have pre-decided, we too can become angry with God. We can justify our own disobedience with the same worldly logic we used to become disobedient in the first place. Jonah would go up to a hill and sit and wait for God to destroy the city; something he desired but God would not do. God would allow a plant to grow over him to provide some shade from the scorching sun but soon the plant would die, driving Jonah further off the deep end. This brings us to our key verse today.
What do we choose to feel sorry about? What do we lament? Where is our mercy in such an unmerciful world? Jonah's concern can be summed up in one word-selfish. And that is what pride does. It blinds us to our own selfishness; our own part in things. It is our pride that allows us to think that our cause is of God when it is really off on our own path, leaning upon our own understanding.
Pride convinced Judas he was righteous and he betrayed Jesus. It convinced Saul he was righteous for making the offering unto God that cost him his kingdom. What is it convincing you of today? What cause do you find yourself in that has you convinced of your own righteousness? Whatever it may be, remind yourself how God views our righteousness:
What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know." "There is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3: 9-18
No fear of God. That is a dangerous place to be in beloved. And I am not talking about "saying" you have the fear of God. I am talking about living the fear of God. The fear of God will force us to examine our situations and see our part in it. More importantly to properly discern what His plans are in it.
If we do so, we will proceed with the same level of grace God has afforded us. If we do so, we will proceed with the same type of love He has lavished upon us. If we do so, we will proceed with the same mercy we have received. Unfortunately, it is often the Christians who can proceed without the grace and love of God. It is Christians often who proceed with a complete dearth of mercy forgetting all that God continues to be merciful towards us for. The Prophet Hosea reminds us:
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings Hosea 6:6
The acknowledgement of God is not meant casually. It is not meant with our lips but with our being with who we are. It does not mean we raise our hands on Sunday and seek to destroy each other on Monday. God has warned us about this specifically:
The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Isaiah 29: 13
Worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, not merely with words. Our actions and our words must be focused on God and His path alone. I pray that the body of Christ could show just a glimmer of the mercy we have received or may God help us all.
Reverend Anthony Wade August 08, 2010
