August 9, 2020 - when situations get the better of us

Theme: Waking Up to God - Jonah: when situations get the better of us

Prayer

Jonah 3:10-4:1                                                              Common English Bible Translation

God saw what they were doing-that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and he didn’t do it. But Jonah thought this was utterly wrong, and he became angry. (Question: Have you ever wanted mercy for yourself but not for someone else?)

Jonah 4:2-3

He prayed to the Lord, “Come on, Lord! Wasn’t this precisely my point when I was back in my own land? This is why I fled to Tarshish earlier! I know that you are a merciful and compassionate God, very patient, full of faithful love, and willing to destroy. At this point, Lord, you may as well take my life from me, because it would be better for me to die than to live.” (Question: How do you react when something good happens to someone you don’t like?)

Jonah 4:4-5

The Lord responded, “Is your anger a good thing?” But Jonah went out from the city and sat down east of the city. There he made himself a hut and sat under it, in the shade, to see what would happen to the city. (Question: Has anger ever clouded your judgment?)

Jonah 4:6-8

Then the Lord God provided a shrub, and it grew up over Jonah, providing shade for his head and saving him from his misery. Jonah was very happy about the shrub. But God provided a worm the next day at dawn, and it attacked the shrub so that it died. Then as the sun rose God provided a dry east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint. He begged that he might die, saying, “It’s better for me to die than to live.” (Question: What do you want God to provide for you but not for someone else?)

Jonah 4:9-11

God said to Jonah, “Is your anger about the shrub a good thing?” Jonah said, “Yes, my anger is good – even to the point of death!” But the Lord said, “You ‘pitied’ the shrub, for which you didn’t work and which you didn’t raise; it grew in a night and perished in a night. Yet for my part, can’t I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand people who can’t tell their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” (Question: Have you ever struggled to have empathy for others? Why?)

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, 

on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us;

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power 

and the glory, forever.  Amen

Blessing

Song List (to listen to from wherever you get your music)

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy

Create in Me a Clean Heart

Ablaze – Alanis Morissette

Get Out of Your Own Way – U2

Less Like Me – Zach Williams

Chase Me Down – Chris Tomlin

Quote by Theologian Richard Rohr

“Your heart has to be prepared ahead of time through faith and prayer and grace and mercy and love and forgiveness so you can keep your heart open in hell, when hell happens.”

Quote by Philosopher & Emperor Marcus Aurelius

“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.”