SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/25/2025
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “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 mentioned that this section of Job chapter four is to me, the most misunderstood of all the book of Jonah, and that is why I continue to quote what John MacArthur has written in his commentary on this last chapter of Jonah.
“God sent the worm at the breaking of the dawn, literally ‘when the dawn came up.’ Just as the plant ‘came up.’ God suddenly removed the experience of the goodness He had supernaturally bestowed on Jonah, assuring that the prophet felt the loss. The Lord ordained the worm to kill the plant at dawn, so that the prophet would feel the full torment of exposure to the rising of the scorching sun. The Lord also allowed Jonah to enjoy the shade of the plant for only one day to take it away the next day, maximizing his discomfort.
“So the worm that the Lord appointed struck the plant such that the plant dried up and withered away. The God who showed grace by bringing the sailors and Jonah to dry land (1:9; 2:10) is the same One who removed His grace by drying up the plant. As the sun increasingly beat down on Jonah’s head, Jonah was feeling the effect of God’s grace being removed.
“Following the destructive work of the worm, then it happened that as the sun rose up, God appointed a scorching east wind. Just as God had sovereignly appointed a fish (1:17) and a plant (4:6) for Jonah’s benefit, He also appointed a worm and then a scorching east wind to inflict suffering on Jonah. The scorching east wind, a Sirocco, came across the arid desert with a fury, collecting sand and dust to blast everything in its path. Like other items in the book of Jonah—the storm, boat, sailors, Ninevites, and worm—this wind immediately and fully submitted to Yahweh’s control. The Lord ensured that the Sirocco rushed in just as the sun rose up so that the prophet would find no relief, not even in the morning. God added to the beating heat of the son the blistering wind, as it stung Jonah’s skin with sand and filled his chocking lungs with dust.
“So, just as the worm struck the plant (4:7), the sun struck the prophet, intensifying his discipline. While the plant had previously shaded Jonah (4:6), the sun now beat down on Jonah’s head. The blessing Jonah had lost and the misery he experienced in its place was to teach him what it meant to enjoy grace, to have grace removed, and to suffer judgment.”
Lord willing I will finish this section in tomorrow’s SD as there is not too much left in it, but I wanted to think about this last sentence that I have highlighted as I am wondering whether or not this kind of thing could happen to a New Testament believer or not. Grace in the Word of God sometimes speaks of salvation, and I do believe with all my heart that once a person is a true believer that he can never stop being a true believer, in other words “loose his salvation.”
Spiritual Meaning for My Life today: I desire to trust the Lord, and to live for Him, and to enjoy the life in the Lord He has given to me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To fully understand the last sentence that is highlighted in yellow, as I am going to have to get some help on that one I think.
11/25/2025 8:49 AM
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