will prevail

Monday September 22^nd, Jonah 3:  ⁵ Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. ⁶ Then the LORD God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. ⁷ But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. ⁸ When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”  ⁹ But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”   “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”  ¹⁰ But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. ¹¹ And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” What are our concerns in life?  For most of us, contrary to what we say are our concerns, our main concerns center around our own well-being.  One of the uphill battles for religion is to get the adherents of that religion to move from a concern for the me to a concern for the we.  The story of Jonah illustrates that in Jonah’s concern for the plant over 120000 people in the city of Ninevah.  That may seem silly to us, but then our choices in life may seem a bit silly to others.  But with a bit of advertising and the right code words, someone without a job can be drawn to be concerned over gay marriage or abortion or some other hot button ballot bait issue while voting against their own and their nation’s best interest.  Sometimes in the midst of things it is hard to realize that the way of the Lord will prevail in this world.  What the story of Jonah asks is, we will be a part of God’s way, or an obstacle along the way.