Anger Or Applause?

Read: Jonah 3:10-4:11

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented. --- Jonah 3:10

The Bible In One Year:
Proverbs 19-21
2 Corinthians 7

How do we react when God shows mercy to people we think deserve punishment? If we are resentful, it may indicate that we have forgotten how much the Lord has forgiven us.

After Jonah followed God's second call to preach His coming judgment on Nineveh [Jonah 3:1-4], the people of the city turned from their evil lifestyle, so the Lord did not destroy them [v.10]. God's mercy made Jonah angry. He told God he had been afraid this would happen, and that's why he fled to Tarshish in the first place. "I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, ... One who relents from doing harm" [4:2].

But the Lord said to Jonah, "Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons?" [4:11].

God's marvelous grace is greater than all our sin. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is gift of God" [Ephesians 2:8]. Because of His grace to us, we should "be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave [us]" [4:32].

Instead of being angry when God is merciful, we should applaud. --- David McCasland

What love the Father has bestowed on me!
For this I cannot help but thankful be;
I read His Word, His promises embrace,
And daily praise Him for His matchless grace. --- Hess

WE CAN STOP SHOWING MERCY TO OTHERS WHEN CHRIST STOPS SHOWING MERCY TO US.