James 5: 12 “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’, lest you fall into judgement.”
Dear God,
I give You thanks for another day of life and for the ability to enjoy worship with others, who also love You. Please bless everyone I know one.
Forgive me for the times I have said ‘my stars’ etc,. any the other times I have not made my ‘yes’ , ‘yes’ or my ‘no’, ‘no’. All things are owned by You God, including our bodies, for even our very hairs on our heads are numbered. Therefore I can see it is wrong to use our body in such a way, when it was created by You, and is rightfully Your property. In that case it is disrespectful, sacrilegious and disobedient to use Your property to swear or take oaths; for Jesus commanded us in Matthew 5: 34, 35 “But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.” Again in Matthew 12 we are reminded how important it is for each of us to use our words wisely, for they reveal what is in our hearts. Matthew 12: 35, 36 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgement.”
Jonah 2: 7”When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple.”
Despite running away from warning Nineveh to turn from their evil ways or be destroyed; Jonah was been treated very graciously by You God. Despite the disobedience of Jonah, he all the time acknowledged who You were and Your great power and mercy. Surely he knew that he could not successfully run away from You? When a storm came and jeopardized the safety of all on board the boat, he knew the reason and source of the storm, and told the sailors to throw him into the sea knowing that then the storm would stop. It seems that he was choosing death over repenting of his waywardness, when he could have said ‘Lord I am willing to go and do Your bidding’ and the storm would have stopped and he would have been in comparative safety on the boat. Reluctantly the sailors threw him into the sea, in effort to save the boat and themselves. But because You are ever a God of undeserved love and mercy, a great fish came and swallowed him down, and then from this unusual ‘resting’ place under the sea, Jonah finally prays much over the next 3 days; until by Divine guidance the fish spewed Jonah out on the dry beach.
The commission for him to go to Nineveh had not changed, and this time Jonah went to carry out this request. By the account of the events around this time, it can be understood, that he still had not really humbled himself before his God, and was still preoccupied with how he felt and what he wanted to do. Jonah presumed on Your love and mercy, and was very self-centred and petulant in front Omnipotence, which was revealed when he expressed anger because Nineveh was spared, due to the genuine repentance of the king and all his subjects. Jonah was more worried about his reputation as a prophet, than all lives in Nineveh being saved, or that You His God were justified by the keeping of Your word.
It was always implied, repent and justice will be metered out and you will not be destroyed. The warning would not have been given, if there had not been the opportunity of reversing their destruction and Jonah seems to have forgotten that he very recently had been saved from apparent certain destruction. And it was before he had repented!
Please reveal to me my wrong heart and speaking habits, that I may repent and make it right. I pray that by Your strength and wisdom, I will be able to refrain from any words that are wrong or offensive.
Amen