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Consider Our Response

by Don Pedal  
5/10/2018 / Christian Living

The Book of Jonah relates how God called Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because of its wickedness. Instead, Jonah ran away from the Lord and to Tarshish. Most of us are familiar with the story of Jonah and the whale. Jonah finally did as God commanded and preached repentance to the city of Nineveh. The Ninevites  believed God and repented. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion on them and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened. As I read this great story many thoughts came to mind about God's compassion, mercy and judgment, but also God's point of view and His great love for all people.The other day a person said to me, "I don't know why we don't just go over there and nuke 'em". This remark shocked me. I immediately pictured thousands of innocent people dying in a horrible way. People innocent because they had nothing to do with the horror of extremism. People who were somebody's son, brother, daughter or any other loved one. The thought occurred to me, "How does God look at this?" I guess it is human nature that we see things from our own perspective only. What if it were us, who had nothing to do with the violence and extremism around us, but were about to become victims?                          To begin with we might first remember Romans 12:19. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord". With this in mind, we must focus our response, military and other ways, on justice and not revenge. We need to consider that God created the people of other nations, hostile to us, in His image as well as us. He desires that they come to Him and be saved, as He does us. He sees them in a different way than we do. It is a good thing that He is the Divine Judge and not us. We have not only entered into a physical war but also a spiritual war. My feeling is that God has permitted the disasters we are experiencing as a wake up call to all of us who are believers.  (refer to 2 Chron. 7:14)  He is calling "His" people to return to Him, to repent, seek Him and pray.We attack other countries and impose embargos on their economies which creates great hardship on their people, all because we don't agree with their political views and leadership. We have mocked God by embracing homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle and have taught this to our children in our schools under the name of "tolerance." The name of God cannot be proclaimed in our schools, or a display of the Ten Commandments, because it might offend someone. Consider the pornography that floods our internet and media in the name of "freedom of speech."  There are many more examples seen daily in our newspapers.Granted that what has been done to us on 9/11 is a terrible crime and demands a response, but let us all remember God's great love for all people. We must be very careful in our response that we do not offend our God in seeking revenge and not justice. Let us all pray that our leaders walk closely with Him and seek His wisdom as we engage in this spiritual battle.As the days ahead unfold, we must earnestly pray for our country and our leaders that God will grant them His wisdom and guidance and, in our response, we do not do evil in His sight. Justice yes, vengeance no.

As a senior citizen, I am dedicated to serving the Lord through sharing my experiences and insights with other believers. My primary focus is upon being an disciple of Jesus and, in being one, I can help others to find their spiritual way also.
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