God Motivation and the Wind Appointment

When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:8-1).

2:30am...step, step, step, step, shuffle...SNIFF!...1...2...3...4...5...SNIFF!...1...2...3...4...5...SNIFF!  "Titus, if you're going to be in here, you can't keep sniffling," I replied.  He left tearful and still struggling with his allergies.  2:32am, another Jonah moment realized, apology given followed by mucus-loosening back patting for 15 minutes.  For me that sniffing was like the scorching wind that God brought, a wind that was meant to convict and awaken a sense of compassion for others.  I "pitied" the sleep that I had been receiving like Jonah pitied his plant.  My sleep was killed by the worm of footsteps and shuffling in the bedroom; then came the slightly more literal wind of sniffing that kept the sun of wakefulness beating on/in my head.  You see, I don't struggle much with seasonal allergies which means I sometimes lack compassion for the "Ninevites" in my house who do.  I'm annoyed and wallow in self-pity at times like 2:30 in the morning when I just want some sleep.  It doesn't matter that my little boy has been robbed of sleep from the get go through a tickled nose or throat.

God is so good to bring worms and wind into my life to keep me from putting my hope and ultimate joy in the refreshing plants He provides (instead of in Him as the Giver).  It's impossible to even imagine the amount of patience that He has with children like me who can't make it five minutes into the day without messing things up and acting as if life is all about who I see in the mirror--it's a good thing that my salvation comes by my Savior's righteousness and not by mine.  But what needs to happen for my growth and what I keep praying for each morning is that God would give me a heart that is less like Jonah's heart and more like that of Jesus.  I need a heart motivated toward and by God the Father; that's the kind of pure motivation that produces the righteousness and holiness that He calls for...the same kind that Jesus walked in each and every moment while He was here.