SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/30/2015
7:18 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
God’s Message
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jonah 3:10
Message of the
verses: “10 When God saw their
deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the
calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.”
In our last two SD’s from the book of Jonah we have seen
Jonah’s message to Nineveh and then we saw Nineveh’s message to God and in
today’s SD we will look at God’s message.
We must believe that at some point God told Jonah that He
was not going to destroy the city of Nineveh, and we will latter see that this
is not what Jonah wanted from God, but for now we are looking at something that
has been a problem to some believers and that is the phrase “God relented
concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them.” We have been over this in earlier SD’s, but
since it is in this text we will go over it again. One of the attributes that God has is that He
is immutable, God does not change His mind, He is unchangeable. Ok we also know that when we look at God in
the Scriptures we sometimes read that He has hands and He has feet, and He has
eyes, and ears, and other body parts.
God does not have all of those things, but the writers of Scripture use
them to help us understand more about God and changing one’s mind is a human
thing. This term is called Anthropomorphism. Warren
Wiersbe writes “From the human point of view, it looked like repentance, but
from the divine perspective, it was simply God’s response to man’s change of
heart. God is utterly consistent with Himself;
it only appears that He is changing His mind.
The Bible uses human analogies to reveal the divine character of God
(Jer. 18:1-10).” We will quote those
verses at this time: “1 The word which
came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, 2
"Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce
My words to you." 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he
was, making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay
was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as
it pleased the potter to make. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, 6
“Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?"
declares the LORD. "Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you
in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 "At one moment I might
speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or
to destroy it; 8 if that nation against
which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity
I planned to bring on it. 9 "Or at
another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to
build up or to plant it; 10 if it does
evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good
with which I had promised to bless it.”
Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section by writing “How deep
was the spiritual experience of the people of Nineveh? If repentance and faith are the basic
conditions of salvation (Acts 20:21), then we have reason to believe that they
were accepted by God; for the people of Nineveh repented and had faith in God
(Jonah 3:5). The fact that Jesus used
the Ninevites to shame the unbelieving Jews of His day is further evidence that
their response to Jonah’s ministry was sincere (Matt. 38:41).”
11/30/2015 7:37 PM
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