A Worm and a Vine

“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. 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. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 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.”

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.”

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. 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?”” - Jonah 4:5:11 NIV

This is a crazy story to me...

I mean, Jonah just got out of the belly of the whale. He finally did what God told him to do, to tell the people of Nineveh to repent and turn to God. But now he was disappointed, to say the least, that God didn’t destroy the city...

And then selfishly, he became angry that the plant that God had given him for shade cover had now been killed by a worm...

Jonah was more concerned about a plant than he was about the lives of the people of Nineveh

All too often, I find myself more concerned about the vines and worms of life than I am the lives around me... the lives we’re called to touch and share with.
Lives that have needs; physical, emotional, spiritual.
Lives that need to meet and know the Jesus that lives in me.

And I’m more concerned about the vine that gives me shade and the worm that caused it to wither.

Of what are we more concerned about than the souls of lost lives?

What is the Lord most concerned with?

Shouldn’t His heart be mine?

Shouldn’t my will match His?

“O Lord, forgive me of my selfishness, forgive my selfish heart. Help me become more like you... in my heart, my choices, my ways.
O Lord, help me care for the things you care about, touch as you have touched and love as you have loved.
O Lord, help me be more like you in all that I am and in all that I do. Amen.”

Keep the Faith... Carpe Diem