SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/17/2025 9:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “A Forbearing Answer”
Bible Reading and Meditation Reference: Jonah 4:4
Message of the verse: “And Yahweh said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”
I want to begin this last section in John MacArthur’s 7th chapter in his commentary on Jonah by quoting Eph 4:26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Sometimes that is a very difficult thing to do, especially if the offense takes place late in the day, but God’s Word always tells us the truth and what to do in the case of being angry is to make sure that before you go to bed that you deal with that anger.
Now in response to Jonah’s misguided and outlandish ultimatum, Yahweh said, which is a reaction that demonstrates His grace and patience. Now God did not strike Jonah dead for his profane impertinence or thunderously denounce His insubordinate servant. However instead, He asked Jonah a very direct question, which displayed His longsuffering toward the angry prophet with a response that was strikingly adversative to Jonah’s foolish blasphemy. Again, God’s grace stood in stark contrast to Jonah’s heart of hatred, as the Lord could have killed Jonah at any point, and He certainly had every right to do so. However the Lord showed patience and mercy, which are traits Jonah did not possess. Jonah saw a wicked people and desired their annihilation; however God encountered a wicked prophet and showed him ongoing care and patience. We should all be thankful for these attributes that God has, for I suppose there are times in all of our lives when we disobey God in a way that we think we are right, but God patiently steers us in the right direction so that we can confess our sin to Him and learn from Him the correct things to do so that we can then serve Him in a way that will please Him.
In my devotional on the 119th Psalm, which can be seen on my other blog, I was looking at the second section from that Psalm, which is the longest chapter in the Bible, and in that SD I went over some verses from Romans chapter seven and then Romans chapter eight. Romans seven tells of a struggle that Paul was going through, a struggle that all believers go through, and is doing the things we are not suppose to do, and not doing the things we are to do. Now it seems to me that Jonah was in this position, but we don’t know if he ever learned how to conquer his anger that he had for the people of Nineveh, but from those verses in Romans chapters seven and eight we can learn something that perhaps Jonah never did learn.
“In verse fifteen (of Ps. 119) we see that the psalmist is determined to meditate upon the Word of God and in verse sixteen he determines to delight in the Word of God and not to forget it. You have to memorize the Word of God before you meditate upon it and you cannot forget it if you desire to meditate upon it. The apostle Paul knew that this was a difficult thing to accomplish, for it is easier to make a promise than to keep that promise. We see in Romans 7:14-25 these very famous words written by the apostle Paul about himself: “14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
Here is some more of this section of Ps. 119 that I put onto my 2nd blog post this morning, as I will post it and then write about it as we view what went wrong with Jonah.
“Dr. Wiersbe writes “Paul learned, as we must also learn, that the indwelling Holy Spirit enables the child of God to fulfill God’s righteousness in daily life (Romans 8:1-11). We must live according to God’s Word which means, cultivation a heart for God. Paul called this ‘seeking the things that are above’ (Co. 3:1).” Before we leave this though I want to share Romans 8:1-11 because it is a very important section of Scripture: “1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Now I realize that Jonah did not have the advantage of looking at the New Testament, yet Jonah was a prophet of God, and God was showing him the things that he was doing wrong, and yet at the time of the writing of Jonah he had not confessed that he was doing anything wrong, although I think that he did know he was doing something wrong, yet did not care that he was doing it wrong. I hope that these verses in Romans 7 and 8 will be something helpful to those who read this Spiritual Diary this morning. It looks like I will have to finish this section from Jonah in tomorrow morning’s SD.
Spiritual meaning for my Life Today: Don’t let the sun go down on my anger before I have dealt with it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Keep trusting the Lord to guide my wife and myself as we deal with her cancer, trusting that God knows best.
11/17/2025 10:23 AM
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