Devotions

Jonah was a prophet who fully understood the lovingkindness of the Lord. But he was a man who could not enjoy or appropriate it. Instead, Jonah turned God's lovingkindness into a burden for himself.

Now God was commanding Jonah to go to the wicked city Nineveh and prophesy its quick destruction. You see, the Ninevites were enemies of Israel. But Jonah ran away in haste when he heard God’s instruction. What prompted his extreme reaction? It was because he knew of the lovingkindness of the Lord. Jonah explained to the Lord, "For I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm" (Jonah 4:2).

In other words: "God, you've commanded me to tell Nineveh they have only forty days before destruction comes. But I can't do that because I know you. You are easily touched. Tears and repentance soften your heart and I know what will happen. When you see the Ninevites crying, you'll change your mind. Instead of sending judgment you'll stir their hearts toward you — and I'll end up looking like a fool!"

Finally, Jonah did go to Nineveh, but only by way of the belly of a giant fish, which spit him onto dry ground. Jonah proclaimed God's judgment to Nineveh and, sure enough, the people repented. The sin-hardened Ninevites wept, fasted, mourned and put on sackcloth, even covering their animals with mourning cloths. It was one of the most sweeping revivals ever recorded in the Bible.

Yet in the midst of all this, Jonah became angry. He actually sulked because God spared Nineveh rather than rejoicing that they were made righteous. In short, Jonah didn't enjoy God's lovingkindness.

Beloved, as the people of God, we dare not make the same mistake. We need to thank God for his merciful lovingkindness to us, his church, and to our nation.

Here is a powerful weapon for every follower of Jesus: Cry! Cry out with all of your heart as David did (see Psalm 34:6). Go to the Lord and confess your sin and appeal to his lovingkindness, saying, "Lord, I know you love me and are ready to forgive me. I repent before you right now."

At the very moment you confess, you are clear with God. It is futile to think you can repay any amount for your sin. God loves you so much that he gave his Son, Jesus, who has already made all payment. Your merciful, loving Advocate is yearning to help and deliver you: "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).

Strolling alongside my young granddaughter, Tiffany, as she walked atop a low concrete wall. I held her from behind to keep her from falling, but she tried to knock my hand away. Eventually I let go, and she toppled over, though without hurting herself. When she fell, I did not desert her, of course. I didn't say, "Look what you did. You're not mine anymore!" No loving grandparent would do that.

The Lord showed me through that experience, "David, you allow yourself such love for this child. But at times you don't allow me to love you in the same way. You swell with pride over your children, but at times you won't allow me to take pride in you."

I heard the Lord speak a tender word to my heart. He said, "Son, you bless me. You bless my heart!" No one has ever said anything better to me in my life. And I know this particular word is true. God takes pleasure in his children (Psalms 147:11).

It is well known that King David fell into horrible sin, committing adultery and covering it up with murder. Moreover, we know David was full of the Holy Spirit, so he must have been miserable.

The prophet Nathan confronted him, saying, "You have brought reproach on God's name." David could only go for so long carrying the weight of the horrible acts he had perpetrated and he immediately confessed and repented. Even as he was still weeping Nathan assured him, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Samuel 12:13).

Yet, hearing that assurance wasn't enough for David. You see, it is one thing to be forgiven and quite another to be free and clear with the Lord. David knew that forgiveness was the easy part. Now he wanted to get things right with God, to be able to get his joy back. So he cried, "Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me" (Psalm 51:11).

Psalm 51 was written as David remembered the merciful, longsuffering nature of the Lord. In the opening verse he appeals to God's tender forgiveness: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions."

David knew just what to do. He cried out! "This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles" (34:6).

"The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. . . The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles" (Psalm 34:15 and 17).

Dear saint, your victory over every battle is learning to possess this confidence: No matter how grievously you have fallen, you serve a Lord who is ready to forgive. Indeed, he is anxious to heal you. He possesses more lovingkindness toward you than you could ever need.

Because I want all the peoples of the world to know the reality of Jesus, I spend a great deal of time traveling around the world in ministry. And then when I return home, I pray that every Christian would know Jesus too!

I hope you got the joke — but you need to know I’m only half joking. Our lives as followers of Christ are not about an identifiable religion, but about a knowable Person, Jesus. There is a huge difference.

The Bible tells us three things work against us in our walk with Christ: the world, our flesh and the devil (see Ephesians 6:12). I’ve wondered, “Why isn’t religion included in that list since it works against our relationship with Jesus, too?” Then I realized religion is in all three!

When I use the word “religion,” I really mean religiosity. This is the idea that we place religion — our theological beliefs and practices — at the center of our lives instead of the loving God. It’s in Jesus that we live, breathe and have our being, not a system of beliefs or works.

When you look at it that way, religion becomes an expression of our flesh, meaning our sin nature. Our flesh uses religion as a front to resist repenting and makes us feel good about ourselves. My Uncle Don Wilkerson calls this “front-sliding.” Backsliding is when people fall away from Jesus by turning to gross sins. Front-sliding is falling in the other direction, turning toward religion and away from Jesus.

Let’s face it, being religious may be more comfortable than being full of the love of Jesus, just because being led by his love can make us seem a little crazy to the world.

Please don’t misunderstand me when I say we’re to hate religion. What I mean is we’re to hate those things that lead to spiritual death rather than to true life in Christ. Hating religion doesn’t mean loving your flesh; it means loving Jesus more.

There are many reasons why God is silent, but I am going to touch on something he recently put on my heart. Sometimes God may be silent simply because he has already spoken to you! If you think about it, how can you accuse God of being silent when he has left you sixty-six letters, thousands of verses? There is no need for him to repeat himself. Aren’t you glad that the book of Genesis doesn’t say, “God said, ‘Let there be light. Let there be light’”?

If you and I had been there on that first day when God said, “Let there be light,” we would have been dancing and rejoicing from 6 o’clock in the morning until about 6 o’clock in the evening.

But suddenly, when it starts to get dark, we begin to panic. “Oh, no, I knew it wouldn’t last! I knew the light was going to go away. Maybe we’ve done something wrong. Maybe we weren’t reading the Word enough.”

The light fades away, and we spend the next twelve hours in sorrow — until the light reappears, and we realize that when God said, “Let there be light,” he didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be night; that there wouldn’t be seasons when we cannot see. He didn’t mean that we would always be able to understand everything that is going on in the heavenly realm. However, the light always reappears, and we see that what God spoke continues to be fulfilled without his having to speak again.

One reason God may be silent is because there is an appointed time for his Word to be fulfilled. One example of this in the Bible is Joseph, who was given the incredible promise that he was going to reign one day. He was going to be a man through whom great provision would be unlocked. However, there was an appointed time for the fulfillment of the promise and he had to follow God’s plan.

Carter Conlon joined the pastoral staff of Times Square Church in 1994 at the invitation of the founding pastor, David Wilkerson, and was appointed Senior Pastor in 2001.