SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/22/2025
My Worship Time Focus: Pt-1 “A Fitting Analogy”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jonah 4:6-8
Message of the verses: “So Yahweh God appointed a plant, and it came up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his miserable evil. And Jonah was extremely glad about the plant. But God appointed a worm at the breaking of dawn the next day, and it struck the plant, and it dried up. Then it happened that as the sun rose up, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun struck down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and asked with all his soul to die and said, “Death is better to me than life.”
I have to say that I never thought of this section of Jonah as an analogy, but perhaps that is a good description of it. John MacArthur states “in response to Jonahs’ warped perspective, the Lord provided His prophet with an object lesson about divine grace. To do so, Yahweh God appointed a plant. This was not the first time the Lord appointed something in the book. In Jonah 1:17, God ‘appointed ‘a fish to rescue the prophet, sovereignly ordaining this merciful miracle. But Jonah clearly did not learn from that monumental act of divine mercy, and so God once again appointed, this time a plant to sprout up as a display of His lovingkindness. The name Yahweh identifies the Lord as the Giver of unbending loyalty and grace (cf. Exod. 3:14-16; 34:6-7), while the title God declares His supreme power and creative might (cf. Gen. 1:1).”Now I want to look at these verses as they are important to help us better understand Yahweh, and God.
14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’" 15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. 16 "Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.
6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."
Now we will also be reminded of Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Now back to John MacArthur’s commentary: “Because He is both supremely powerful and immeasurably gracious, the Lord intervened in the life of His sulking servant, providing unforgettable instruction that grace comes solely from His sovereign hand (cf. Eph. 2:1-10; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5-6).” I realize that because I am quoting more of the verses in MacArthur’s commentary that these Spiritual Diaries will be shorter, that is what is written other than the quoted verses, but I think that it is important to look at some of these references, and with that said I will now quote the verses listed above.
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Spiritual Meaning for my life Today: It is a good thing for all believers to go over these verses above as they tell us how it is that God has saved us, showing that He is a merciful, loving Heavenly Father who desires us to come to know Him through Jesus Christ who is the One who died on the cross to pay for our sins so that we can have life in Him and serve Him forever.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting that the Lord will use these Spiritual Diaries as His Spirit sends them around the world to bring many to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
11/22/2025 11:43 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment