Judgement And Mercy — A LifeWords Devotion

Poor old Jonah! Waiting out in the desert for God to hurl thunderbolts down on the wicked city of pagan Nineveh. But to his dismay, the people therein have turned to God who has accordingly shown mercy to them. No thunderbolts of judgement were forthcoming.

There is something perverse about this pathetic prophet. After initially defying God’s command to warn Nineveh to turn to God, he eventually does so after some time in the belly of a fish. When they respond, Jonah is far from pleased. He wants them punished. He wants to see them wiped out by divine action.

But nothing happens. Jonah all along has suspected God might be merciful. His own self-righteous anger at human wickedness wants to see justice done. Instead, God shows mercy. Sometimes God’s people show a lot more anger and a lot less mercy to those who defy him.

This compassionate God will surely deliver just judgement on human rebellion against him. We just need to beware of licking our lips in anticipation of this. If we find ourselves getting more excited about God punishing sinners than about his sparing those sinners, we have lost touch with the heart and mind of God. The thunderbolts that we hope might destroy others might just fall on us.

Blessings

David