All the more, be subject!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Devotions: Ps 32, 95, 102, 130, 143; Jonah 3:1-4:11; Heb 12:1-14; Lk 18:9-14

They are blessed whose sins God has forgiven, to whom God imputes no inquity. When I hold it all in, I nearly explode, and I groan constantly. When I open up to God, admitting my sins, He forgives my guilt and sets me right. Let all who are godly come before You, holy Lord, and be purged of our sins. Many are the pangs of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in YHWH; let us rejoice and shout for joy in our Lord. Come and let us sing before the Lord, a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. We come to You, Lord, with thanksgiving and songs of thankful praise. All that is, is Yours. We kneel before You, our Maker and Lord; we are Your flock. Let us relent, so that God need not ban us from His presence. We are mortals, and our days pass like smoke in a hurricane; we are like solitary owls or vultures in the wilderness. We eat ashes and drink tears because of God's indignation against our sins. Let YHWH hear the prayers of the destitute; let God not despise our supplications. And let future generations know about God. He has broken my strength mid-course, but He will yet restore me and preserve my life. So I cry from my depths to God my Lord. There is forgiveness with You, my God, and all Your people put our hope in You. Redeem us from all our sins! Let God hear and answer; we stretch out our hands to You; hasten to answer, my Lord; my spirit fails! Don't hide Your face from me; let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love, for I put my trust in You. Teach me the way I must go, as I lift my soul to You. Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, and teach me to do Your will. I am Your servant.

When Jonah finally surrendered, YHWH sent him to Nineveh, to preach repentance. And he did, preaching the three days it took to cross the great city. And the people and king of Nineveh heard and responded; they fasted put on sackcloth, even covering their animals in this covering of repentance. The king and his nobles proclaimed fasting from food and water, and prayer in sackcloth: 'Let every one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands. Who knows: God may yet repent from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish after all.' God saw all this and He did not execute the judgment He had intended for Nineveh. All this really irked Jonah. He complained to YHWH--'This is why I ran from You; I know that You are gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and You repent of evil. So, God, take my life now, for I'd rather die than live!' God asked Jonah if his anger was righteous; Jonah didn't answer, but left the city and made a booth for himself east of the city, to see what would become of the city. YHWH Sabaoth appointed a plant to shelter Jonah; it quickly grew up and shaded him from the wicked sun, and the plant made Jonah very happy. Bu at the next dawn, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered; and God sent a sultry east wind, so that the wind and sun made Jonah faint. Again he complained: 'It is better for me to die than to live.' Again God questioned him: 'Is your anger righteous because of this plant?' Jonah persisted, 'Yes it is! I do well to be angry enough to die!' Then YHWH said, 'Jonah, you pitied the plant, which you did nothing to plant or grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night, too. Shouldn't I, then, pity Nineveh, where more than 120,000 people live, who know nothing of spiritual matters, and all their animals?'

Since we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us set aside everything that hinders, and the sin that so thoroughly entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race God marks out for us. Let us fix our sight upon Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right side of God's throne. Ponder Him Who endured such opposition from sinful mortals, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggles against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Perhaps you have forgotten the scriptural exhortation: 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by Him. For the Lord disciplines those He loves, and chastises ever son whom He receives.' You must endure God's righteous discipline. God is treating you as His sons—and what father does not discipline the children whom he loves? If you were not disciplined, you would be shown to be illegitimate, not heirs of the Father. All of us had earthly fathers; they disciplined us, and we respected them for it. Shall we not, then, all the more be subject to the Father of all spirits, and live? Our fathers disciplined us according to their standards for a short time; but our heavenly Father disciplines us to share in His eternal glory! At the moment, all discipline feels awful. But later, it yields a peaceful harvest of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. So: lift up your drooping hands; strengthen your weak knees so that what is lame may be healed, not thrown further out of joint. Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness everyone needs who will see God.

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in their own righteousness (and despised others). 'Two men went into the temple to pray: a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee stood near the altar and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I tithe all that I get." But the tax collector stood far in the rear, and would not even lift up his eyes; he beat his breatst and said, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"' Jesus concluded, 'I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.'