Not by might or by power

“Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” – Zechariah 4v6

The work of the temple, as we already know was discouraging. Most of Zechariah’s prophecy was to encourage the people and little could have encouraged them more than these words. “You are not going to do this work in your own strength or your own power,” God told them, “you are going to do the work by My Spirit!”

When we try to serve the Lord today we are going to go through some tough spells. It is not always going to be a mountain top experience. Often when it gets like that we can try to do things our own way. We get desperate and we try to figure out what more we can do. We can even begin to see ourselves as failures.

God’s reminder is for all of us. We are not going to succeed on our own. God is going to do His work through us in His way if We are in fellowship and obedience to Him.. This does not take away our responsibility to be faithful in service and obedience, but it does help us with the pressure to succeed.

I am coming

“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD.” – Zechariah 2v10

When the Jews first read these words they naturally assumed that when Messiah came the first time it would be for the purpose of doing just what He said here, the live and reign in Jerusalem.

They didn’t know yet that God’s plan was so much bigger – He was going to open His arms and make provision for all men to be saved. He did that by going to the cross to pay the sin penalty so that all who will accept His gift can have the joy of eternity with Him.

The precious promise “I am coming to dwell in the midst of you” is still to be kept. One day He is coming back; first to take us with Him - then to reign on earth. Praise God for the precious promise “I am coming to dwell in your midst,” and thank God that it is available for us.

Return to Me and I will return to you

“Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.” - Zechariah 1v3

Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai. The both prophesied to a nation that had wandered away from their close fellowship with God. They had become preoccupied with their own busy-ness and left God out of their everyday lives.

We often use the term “backsliding” to describe this action. We cannot lose God – He is not going to forsake us. However, out sweet close communion and fellowship with Him is affected. We miss the blessings of seeing Him involved in our everyday lives when we turn away from that fellowship.

God doesn’t want us to do without Him. He wants what if best for us so He waits for us to forsake our sin and turn back to Him. If we do so He promises that He will be there for us and that we can expect Him to be there.

If we walk out of fellowship, why not return to Him and let Him return to us.

The desire of all nations

“And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.” - Haggai 2v7-9

God truly loves His people. He did not just tell them to stop being discouraged and to get their act together. He told them why they should not be discouraged. God told them to look forward to the day when He would “shake all nations, the Desire of Nations would come, He would fill His temple with glory, and He would give peace.

God wants us to do all we can here and now, but He wants us to be looking forward to what He will do.

At the end of the day all God wants us to do is to be faithful with what we have. As long as we are doing all to His glory we can rest assured no matter how it looks. One day He is going to use it all for His glory and we will rejoice in what He has done.

Wouldn’t it be wise if we started rejoicing in what He is doing today?

When we see nothing

“Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?” - Haggai 2v3

Finally the work was done, the temple was built. For some there was great excitement over what they had done, but for those who had seen the old temple this was like nothing. It was not what they had hoped for, they felt dejected to the point of tears. “You call this a temple?” they may have asked, “This is nothing.”

The problem was that they were not seeing things from God’s point of view. They were looking at the things they could see instead of the things they could not see. Our problem too often is that we have “geovision” where we see only the things of this world.

When we are faithfully serving God there is never “nothing.” We may not see it, but God is at work. Let’s replace our geovision with Deovision where we learn to see God in all that is happening.

They came and worked

“And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,” - Haggai 1v14

When it comes right down to it there is only way to fix procrastination. After fourteen years of focusing on themselves the people finally got busy when they heard God’s word from Haggai. The decided to obey God, and when they did they got words of great encouragement from God Himself – “I am with you.”

Imagine that; when God tells us to serve Him He does not send us out all alone. He says here, and many times in the Bible, that He will go out with us. In our own power we can do absolutely nothing – nothing at all. But when God goes with us we can do anything, nothing is impossible.

The people of Israel did what we should do today – they went out and did the work. No deliberation, no debate, no more procrastination – the simply went out and did the work.

What does God want us to stop procrastinating and do today?

You have sown much, but you bring in little

“Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.” - Haggai 1v6

Do you ever wonder why we can’t seem to get ahead in life? Doesn’t it seem sometimes like the harder we work, the less we end up with? Does it always seem like there is more month than there is money?

Perhaps we need to heed Haggai’s words in verse 5 and verse 7 – “Consider your ways.” Israel’s problem came from their misdirected priorities. God lays down the same principle in the New Testament, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things we be added unto you.” If we could ever learn to truly trust God with the things of this world, He would sort out the rest for us. Wrong focus is always going to lead to problems and we are never going to feel like we are getting ahead.

Let’s spend out time, our money, and our effort seeking Him and His kingdom and let Him sort out the rest.

Consider Your Ways

Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, "Consider your ways." Haggai 1v5

Haggai came to God's people in a very difficult time. A few years before they had returned to Jerusalem with great excitement and great fervency. The captivity was over and now they had the chance to rebuild the city and the Temple. They started work with a fervour. Pretty soon however things went sour. Opposition came, the enemy didn't like what they were doing, the work got hard and they eventually just laid it aside and went about their own business. They built nice homes for themselves and forgot about serving God. Fourteen years passed and they were still saying, "Oh, its not time to do God.s work yet!"

God sent the prophet Haggai to speak to them in this time. He point out to them that while God's house was in ruins they were all living in their finely furnished houses. They were grand with it all, but God was not happy with their complacency and procrastination.

"Consider your ways!" The words from Haggai's lips were a stinging rebuke to the people. "Think about what you are saying and what you are doing." These words from God's man are as appropriate now as they were then. We can get so caught up in wrong goals and wrong priorities that we forget all about God's work and doing the things He wants us to do.

Lets all take time to consider our ways this morning and every morning. Are the things on tap for today the things He would have us to do?

Wait on me, says the Lord…He will save

“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey…The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” - Zephaniah 3v8,17

It seems sometimes like there is a lot of waiting on God in the Bible. No one likes waiting. We are all kind of like children when it comes to wait. We get excited about what is coming and we want what we want when we want it. We can be like kids fidgeting in the back seat saying, “Are we there yet?”

Generally, we know what is best what is coming and what is best for our children. God does so more than generally. He always knows what is best and He always knows what timing is best. The problem is that like those kids we don’t always “get it.”

One day it is all going to make sense – the Lord knows best. Like impatient children we need to sit down, carry on with what we need to do, and trust that He is going to always do the right thing!

The Lord will do no wrong

“The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.” - Zephaniah 3v5

I find it interesting that the so often in the midst of our trials and testings we can be tempted to doubt and question God. “Can He really understand this? Does He know what is going on?” How do we ever overcome that? How do we get to the point where we don’t doubt God?

A huge part of that comes down to faith. When we doubt God we are in essence questioning His heart and His character. Often in the Old Testament, in the midst of God’s wrath, He makes a point to remind us that He is always doing the right thing. His judgement is always right. As His children live our lives He is always in our midst, and He never does what is wrong, He never fails us.

Once again it comes down to faith – do we have the faith to trust God even when we can’t see what He is doing?

Neither silver nor gold will deliver them

"Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath..." - Zephaniah 1v18

It is sad today that so much of the world today is "running a hundred miles and hour in the wrong direction." Everything about their lives is focused on getting and having more land, money, houses, cars, possessions, and "stuff" in general. It is even sadder that God's people get caught up in the same trap. Churches are full of folks who spend most of their time trying to get more and more things while leaving God on the shelf.

At the end of the day all of that stuff is not going to mean anything. The only thing that is important is our love for God and our love for others. That is, after all, the great commandment that Jesus gave.

Lets make sure that we have our focus always in the right place. All of these temporal things are going to be gone one day.

To be fit for God

Balance my mind in all varying circumstances
and help me to cultivate a disposition
that renders every duty a spiritual privilage.

Wine upon the lees

“And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.” - Zephaniah 1v12

One of the many reasons for the judgement on God’s people in Jerusalem was that they had become complacent about their sin. The people of the city, and the nation in general had come to the point where they though that God would do nothing about their sin. They had “settled on their lees” of sin. Lees are the thick, sticky, mucky, sludge left in a wine vat after the good wine has been poured out. It is nasty, think, gunky, and gooey.

Sadly, even Christians can settle in the lees of their sin, as nasty and ugly as it is. God is never happy when we settle back into our sins. Whether we admit it or not, we are essentially saying, “God doesn’t care if I sin.” What a slap in the face of a Holy God!

If we ever find ourselves comfortable and complacent in out sins it is time for a wake up call! Time to confess our sins, accept His forgiveness, and clean up that nasty gunk that we were stuck in!

Yet I will rejoice

“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.” - Habakkuk 3v17-19

After all was said and done Habakkuk truly figured it out. He realised that God’s methods and God’s ways are not always going to be His ways. Even after God laid things out for him he did not understand, so he came to a conclusion – I will still rejoice.

Habakkuk said, “I don’t care if the fig trees don’t blossom, if the grapes fail, if the olives don’t produce, f the crops fail, if the sheep and the cattle all die – even then I am going to rejoice in the Lord.”

How could he say that? He because He had learned that he was not the source of his power and he was not the source of His stability. He knew that the truth of “The Lord is my strength. The Lord will let me walk numbly above all this stuff! He knew the truth of Ephesians 2 where the Lord will lift us up to the high places!

If we could have the same perspective we could learn to say “I will rejoice” in the Lord no matter what the circumstances!”

The Lord is in His holy temple

“But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.” - Habakkuk 2v20

Habakkuk finally got things sorted out in His mind. At the end of the day, when we just can’t get it sorted in our heads – it is time, as the song goes, to bow the knee and realise that the Lord is still in His holy temple. When that time comes it is the chance for us to simply keep silence before Him and let Him do His work.

When we think about it, what better choice could we make than to let God have control? God is love, God is good, and God is my daddy! After we have said our piece, why not just let Him do what He will and rest in that.

He is still in control no matter what we are going through – may we be silent and rest calmly in that!

Living by faith

“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” - Habakkuk 2v4

The concept of faith living is often thought of as something in the New Testament alone. We don’t often thing about Old Testament faith, or the concept of daily living by faith. However, as part of what God was showing Habakkuk he let it be done that the just live by faith in God and His perfect way. Habakkuk didn’t understand what was going on – God said, the just live by faith and trust me.

Living by faith is the only way for God’s people to live. At some time we must just learn to trust Him and go on our way. The greatest test of who is truly just is when they are willing to keep living daily while trusting Him!

I will stand on my watch

“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” - Habakkuk 2v1

Habakkuk gives us a great example of how to deal with situations where we don’t understand what God is doing. First he poured out his heart to God, he did not hold back how he felt about the situation, he prayed about all that was wrong – then he took the bold step of faith.

“I will stand on my watch,” he said, “I will see what God will say and then see how I respond when God sorts me out.” It is interesting to note that Habakkuk did not think that he was going to get God to change His mind or His way, but that God would teach him what was going on. He knew that God was right; he just knew that he didn’t know what was going on.

What would it be like if we behaved like Habakkuk. God wants our openness and honesty. He wants us to bring our concerns to Him. At those times our heart should not be expecting God to act our way, but to let Him teach us the perfectness of His work in every situation.

You are too pure to look at evil

“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” - Habakkuk 1v13

Habakkuk was in questioning mode. He was trying to reconcile what he knew about God with what he was seeing. He saw wicked Isreal prospering, then he heard God say He was going to use the even more wicked Assyria to punish Israel for their sins. How could he reconcile the two in his mind?

There is a great truth expressed in the middle of this discussion between Habakkuk and God. Habakkuk said, “You are of purer eyes that to behold evil.” Regardless of the arguments here, this is an absolute true statement. God cannot behold evil. The conflict is not quite as confusing as it might seem. God could not behold evil. His people were enjoying their sin, God is so pure that He could not tolerate His people’s sin and was willing to use a wicked nation to judge their sin.

It is vital that we have the same view of sin that God does.

He knows those who trust in Him

“The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” - Nahum 1v7

Nineveh really messed up. Only about a hundred years after the great spiritual awakening under Jonah’s preaching they had reverted to their old ways. After an initial positive response they next generations had rushed back into their sin.

God is just and holy. He cannot tolerate sin in any measure. Their sins had to be judged. The prophet Nahum was sent to Nineveh to let them know of the coming judgement. His little book is full of God’s wrath on the people for their sin.

Yet, early on Nineveh has a few words of comfort for those who are truly the Lord’s. There must be some there who had never turned from God. To them God has great words of comfort for them to hold on to during the pending doom:

• The Lord is good
• He is a stronghold in the day of trouble
• He know them that trust in Him

Years ago I chose this as my own special “life verse” because of the depth of the comfort He provides. First is the statement of God’s inherent goodness. This is foundational to the rest of the passage. In all things and all circumstances he must remember that He is good, all good, and always good. Because He is good He is a stronghold that we can cling to in the worst days of trouble and conflict. There is a place we can turn in the very worst of days. Finally – we have the full knowledge that He knows those that put their trust in Him. He knows all about our deepest and darkest struggles. He knows us better than anyone else even could.

We are living in dark and troublesome days. Praise my Almighty God for His goodness, for the fact that I can hold on to Him in the darkest days, and that He knows me.

Imagine that, the God Who said, “Let there be light, knows Roger Parrow!!

Who is a God like You?

“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” - Micah 7v18-19

Thou hast given me to read my pardon
in the wounds of Jesus,
and my soul doth trust in him, my God incarnate,
the ground of my life, the spring of my hope.

Perhaps the Puritan writer of this thought had the end of Micah in mind when he wrote these words. Micah was overwhelmed at the goodness of God in wiping out his sins. “Who is a God like You,” he asked he tried to cop on to what God does when He forgives sin. Micah did not have the advantage of seeing how all of this would be accomplished in Christ, but he did understand the depth of God’s forgiveness.

• He will pardon iniquity
• He will pass over transgression
• He will not remain angry forever
• He will bless again
• He will have compassion
• He will subdue our iniquities
• He will cast our sins in the depths of the sea

Why would He do all that – because He is a God Who delights in mercy! He delights in it so much that He sent His Son to pay the price to cover over all of our sins so that He could do all of the things Micah mentioned!

Praise the Mighty Lamb of God that my sins are cast into the very depths of the see by the blood of Christ, because my Abba Father delights in showing mercy!

I will behold His righteousness

“I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.” - Micah 7v9

Sometime we may ask ourselves when it is going to begin to make sense. We keep on sinning and suffering the consequences. The “bad guys” seem to prosper while the church seems to struggle along. Putting in a common vernacular we might well say, “What’s the story?”

One day it is all going to make sense. Micah could be bold before his enemies when he said, “Though I fall I will arise” because He had an ultimate hope and confidence – he knew that one day he would see the righteousness of the Lord. Righteousness is basically just “rightness,” or “rightwiseness” as the English word used to be.

God always does right – always. It may not always make sense to us, but it is always right. Micah knew that one day he would see the rightness of it all. One day it will all make sense to us. All the pieces of the puzzle will fall into place. What confidence that should give us – one day we will see the rightwiseness of God!

When I fall, I will arise

“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.” - Micah 7v8

The Bible tells that a righteous man will fall seven times and then rise up again. If we would be honest we would admit that we are all susceptible to falling. In fact, we are probably far too familiar with what it means to fall. The can be a fear, as one songwriter puts it, that we can “fall one too many times.” This fear is based on a “fear that His love is no better than mine.”

Micah too knew what it was like to fall. He told his enemies not to get too excited about his falling, because he would arise. Though he might be in darkness at the moment he would sit in great light. He had the faith to know that God would allow him to arise again – and again, and again – because God’s love for us is greater than our love. We get tired of watching people fall, we can give up on them, but if God can allow us to rise up again should we now give others the same chance?

Praise the Almighty Creator of the universe – He is the One who lifts me up EVERY time I fall.

Thank you Abba Father – for lifting me up in my darkest hours!

I will look to the Lord

“Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.” - Micah 7v7

When Micah looked around him he must have been tempted to despair. There was nothing good to be seen. Sin was rampant, the political and religious leaders were corrupt, and even family and friends could not be trusted.

I think we probably have all been through times like that. It just seems like everything is coming down around our heads. At times like that I think we have all been tempted to just through up our hands and quit.

I’m sure Micah was tempted to do the same, but he made another choice. He decided that he would look to the Lord and wait on Him for His answer. How could he simply decide to just sit back and wait on God?

The answer is that he had the faith to say – “My God will hear me!” Micah knew that no matter what happened God would hear Him. He had the kind of raw faith that could just say, “God is going to do the right thing and I will rest in that.”

How often do we respond this way when things are coming apart at the seems? By God’s grace may we learn to respond like Micah did!

What does the Lord require of you?

“He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” - Micah 6v8

Israel could be religious with the best of them. They had the sacrifices down pat, their religious rituals were the pride of the area, and everything seemed okay on the surface.

But deeper down there were serious issues. There hearts were corrupt, the treated their neighbours poorly, they were proud and arrogant in their demeanour. They showed no love of God in their lives.

As God reasoned with them He let them know that this was not the way. He summarised all that He wanted from them with a short list of this that He really desired to see.

• Do what is right to others
• Love and demonstrate God’s mercy
• Walk in humility before God

That doesn’t look like too much to ask does it? Yet when these are combined the summarise all that true godly living is all about. The fruit of the Spirit can easily be seen in this short list.

Lets take chance today to examine our lives in the light of what God really requires of us.

This man shall be peace

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be the peace…” - Micah 5v2-5

Many Christians are familiar with Micah 5v2 in the Christmas story. It is the prophecy of Messiah being born in Bethlehem. We all are aware that Jesus miraculously fulfilled that prophecy. He also fulfilled several other things that were prophesied.

• He indeed did stand and feed the nation in the strength of the Lord
• He opened the door for them, and us, the abide in the majesty of His name
• He is great in all the ends of the earth

There is one more blessed promise here – This man shall be the peace among the nations. In one way He will literally fulfil that one day when He sets up His kingdom. In a more personal way He is already fulfilling that promise in being our peace in a troubled world. Praise God that He is our peace – for only then can He provide the peace that we need.

I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord

“But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.” - Micah 3v8

Micah knew the only source of his power. He knew that when he proclaimed the word of God he was not doing so on the basis of anything he had done or who is was. All around him were false prophets trying to proclaim things in their own authority and on the basis of their strength.

Micah had a job to do – he had to preach against sin in the land. He knew that he too was a sinner, but that was not the basis for his preaching. His preached was not strengthened by who he was, or the sort of man he was. It was based totally on the fact that he was preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit.

What a lesson for us! When we proclaim God’s word, whether it be in the pulpit or the shop, we don’t do so based on our power or who we are. If we don’t do this in the power and might of the Holy Spirit than we are going to fail every single time.

Do not my words do good the him that walks uprightly?

“O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?” - Micah 2v7

God’s people did not seem like they were ever going to learn. Troubles came and the priests were saying that it was not God’s judgement. God used Micah to tell them that it really was Him. God said, in essence, “are you trying to say what I can and can’t do?”

God did not only show them His judgement, but He reminded them of another great truth – “My words do go to them that walk uprightly.” The key reminder is this – God is always at work, to the wicked he pours out judgement, but to those who choose to walk uprightly He will allow His words to do good!

Should not I spare Nineveh?

“And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” - Jonah 4v11

I never cease to be amazed at God’s love and mercy. In our eyes He could not have chosen a more unsuitable target for His mercy than Nineveh. There were quite possibly the most wicked city in the known world at the time – vicious, brutal, pagans – they had no regard for human life. It seems like God would have just killed them all.

Yet God saw something else – there were 120,000 children there as well. God chose to give Nineveh a chance – and when the city repented of their sin God marvellously and graciously saved them. His mercy saw beyond what any of us would have seen.

We all deal with similar situations daily. We look around and see the most “hopeless cases” and think that they are never going to turn to God. We must learn to see the world around us with the eyes of Christ. If we are indeed His body – why aren’t His eyes seeing the needy all around us?

You are a gracious God

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” - Jonah 4v1-2

Just when you think you can start to like an appreciate Jonah he goes and says something silly like this.

“I knew You were a gracious, merciful, patient, and kind God who would show mercy on these people – that’s why I ran away to Spain. I didn’t want you to save those people!”

Jonah was really mixed up in his thinking. He hated these people so much that he really did not want to see them saved! How short sighted and selfish Jonah was!

Let us make sure that we always see ALL people like God does, not like Jonah did. God is indeed gracious, merciful, patient, and kind. May we pray for His grace and mercy on all around us.