Angry at the Sun
I am sharing more and more time on the roof of our house for devotions in the morning and evenings. I frequently feel the Lord’s presence increase when I climb the ladder and walk up to my favorite spot. Today I was on the roof finishing a word search (for who doesn’t favor a good word search!) and as I was enjoying my daily puzzle I recognized how nice it was to sit underneath the clouds, especially in this intense Atlanta summer heat. Suddenly the clouds moved and created an opening for the sun’s blaze to burst through on my back. I immediately became annoyed and at the same moment laughed to myself and thought of Jonah. He also appreciated a shady reprieve and detested a midsummer broil:
3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?
5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
6 And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
10 Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
Jonah 4:3-10
Jonah learned a lesson about compassion, forgiveness, and the power of repentance. I had a difficult lesson to learn this morning. The heat of the sun increases your pleasure of the shade. If it was always shady, we wouldn’t appreciate its comfort. This is so true when it comes to relationships. Every day we deal with the heat of demands, stress, responsibility, and the expectations of others. When we encounter people and environments that shade us from the sun, we bask in it, run to it, relax in it like a baby into a soft blanket at night. We should praise God for the heat of life for it reminds us of his kindness to provide shade when we need it most! Are you a person who provides cool shade or broiling heat?
