BUT GOD PREPARED A WORM
Jonah 4:7 "But God prepared a worm…..and it smote the gourd that it withered."
• (God and a worm….How amazing)
1 Cor 1:27-29
“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.
• There are some who tell me from time to time that God is to great to be interested in the affairs of individuals.
• The universe after all is so big…. how can I be very significant and important
• Listen God is very interested in you and the affairs of your every day life
1. God prepares for the events that happen in your life…. they don't just happen
• In Jonah 1:17 God prepared a fish
• In 4:17 God prepared a gourd
• In 4:6 God prepares a WORM
• In 4: 8 God prepared the wind
• God is always preparing
How many ate a piece of bread this week. (God had a hand in preparing that bread)
• Last winter He sent the snow
• In the spring time he sent the rain
• In the summer He sent the sunshine
• God was working a full year before you buttered the toast that you ate this morning
God promised way back in Noah's day God said Seedtime and harvest would not cease (Gen 8:22)
• The bread you eat daily depends on that promise
2. The same principal applies in your salvation
• Sin didn't take God by Surprise
• Your redemption was planned…GOD ORDAINED from before the foundations of the world.
• The entire History of the Israel has been in preparation for the coming of His son
• Abraham and Isaac….Jacob, Judah, David, and Mary and others were all carefully selected
3. Bethlehem was selected as His birthplace long before the calendar was changed from BC to read AD
• Yes God moved on Augustus Caesar and the Machinery of the Roman Empire moved
• The when the fullness of time had come…when preparation had been made…
• God sent forth His son born of a virgin
4. God said in Isaiah 65:24 “Before they call, I will answer"
• Listen…. Every answered prayer is a testimony of God's PLANNING
• That's why when we go through great trial and tribulation we can say:
Rom. 8:28-31
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called,
them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What
shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
• Do you believe this today…? That all the things that happen to you that seem bad are working together for your good
II. Not only does God prepare but He often uses humble instruments
1. God prepared a WORM…. a simple worm
• A common thing despised by everyone
• I Cor. 1:28 says that God uses the BASE things of the world, and the things that are despised …To bring to nothing the things that are
2. Jonah was pouting…. a pouty preacher….isn't that amazing
• But God prepares a worm to humble his prophet
• God used a runt shepherd boy to humble the giant Goliath
• Jeremiah was a young person who lacked an education and God sent him to Judah
• Amos was a herdsman and God sent him to the court of Israel
• A farmer used an ox goad to bring a great victory
• Jesus chose fisherman and tax collectors to stand before kings and important dignitaries
• An illiterate shoe clerk was won to Christ by his Sunday school teacher
• D.L. Mood became one of the greatest preachers of all times
• He was despised by educated teachers and preachers of his day
• Many unknown names are behind the Great bible characters and their success.
• An unnamed little boy gave Andrew his lunch and Jesus used it to feed 5,000
• Unnamed disciples lowered Paul over the wall in a basket to save his life
• An unnamed servant slave girl told Naaman the Syrian general who was a leper about Elijah
• But God knows every one of their names
• He knows your name and He prepares your ways and people around you to accomplish His good purposes for
you
III. God prepares, God uses humble instrument & thirdly God works in strange ways
• Listen to Jonah 4:7 It (the worm) smote the gourd, that it withered
• Jonah was happy about the gourd
• He was angry when it withered away…. Yet the hand of the Lord was in it!
• This is not a very easy lesson to learn in life
• Its easy to understand when God adds or multiplies…. wow blessings for sure
• But its hard when He starts subtracting
Have you ever been upset when a good GOD-GIVEN gift has been taken from you….It becomes harder to sing like you used to sing
• Maybe you even start mumbling or complaining…Why me Lord….
• Why have you discomforted me and destroyed my Joy
We must learn to praise our God in any situation we face…Good or Bad
Our attitude must be OH LORD WHAT DO YOU WANT TO WORK OUT THROUGH ME…. even in the worst of situations
Joseph was in the pit and the prison system of his day
• When it was all over years latter listen to what Joseph said to his brothers
• He was able to tell them God was good to me in a bad situation
• Gen 45;5 " It was not you but God who sent me into the dungeon…why
• TO PERSERVE YOUR LIFE….TO PREPARE BEFOREHAND FOR YOUR GOOD
Paul & Silas were cast into prison for preaching faithfully
• His back beaten
• His wrists and ankles bloody from the stocks
• Listen to what he wrote latter in 2 Cor 1:3,4 “The God of ALL COMFORT; who comforts us in all our tribulations,
that we may be able to comfort them which ARE IN TROUBLE, BY THE COMFORT WHEREIN WE OURSELVES ARE
COMFORTED OF GOD.
The book of Jonah tells a rugged story
• It is a message to the transgressor…Proverbs 13:15 says the ways of the transgressor is hard
• But thank God it is a story with another message also…
• It is a message of love and tenderness….
• It is a love story ….a story that reveals the heart of God
• John 3:16 says For God so loved the world that he GAVE
• God loved Jonah…. a preacher with preconceived ideas who because of stubborn pride rebelled against Gods plan
• The preacher was wrong and the city of Nineveh was wrong….But God loved both
• The story involves a man running from God…. trying to sleep in a boat going in the wrong direction
? It involves a raging storm…. that’s usually what happens to individuals running from God
• It involves repentance and a moral awakening of an entire city
• A 40 day ultimatum was given and the entire city repents in sack cloth and ashes
• It the story of a prejudice preacher….
• It’s the story of Gods love and mercy to all his people and those who were his enemies
• God wants to redeem not to destroy…If you are here today understand that God loves you...He will move oceans
to get your attention
• He will prepare a fish….a wind…..a worm…..a bush or whatever else He needs to …BUT God will get your attention
Do you know what I realized from this story….Jonah had forgotten the comfort of the Gourd
• You see he took every day for granite
• He took the blessing of God as if they were common place and for him only
• Blessings for him and cursing’s for His enemies
• But God is not like that my dear friends…..HIS COMPASSSION AND MERCY OVERFLOWS
Lam 3:22-24
It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every
morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore, will I hope in him.
• All God asks of you is to simply say God I am sorry I have been wrong…be merciful to me a sinner.
• You see this is the real story of Jonah…..And the Bible in miniature.
1. Are you running from God today?
2. Have you been taking the blessing of God for granite….?
3. Are you upset with God for something that has happened to you…?
4. Do you think it’s unfair that God has extended His mercy to those you think deserve His justice?
