Sermon # 48 - No Room For Rebellion Series

Today’s meditation is taken from Jonah 4:9, “But God said to him, "What right do you have to be angry about the plant?" Jonah replied, "I have every right to be angry—angry enough to die!"” (GNB)

God spoke to Jonah who was annoyed and angry, and asked him if it was right on his part to be angry about the plant that had withered. Jonah should have immediately sensed the loving kindness of God, the creator of heaven and earth that He was mindful of him, though he was not worthy of it. However, Jonah was so hard and rebellious that he answered to God, that he had every right to be angry, and that he would do until death. If you are wondering how Jonah had such audacity to speak to God this way, it was because there was a stubborn streak in him.

Sadly, there are many who take such an obstinate stance, and this is how you can identify them. If you try to advise them they will listen to you, but will at the end of the conversation, stick to their own point. Some with give logical reasons to justify all that they do, and will not accept their faults in any way. Then there are others who to hide their own faults will throw the blame on others to legitimize their actions. This kind of stubborn people will be unable to maintain any sort of healthy relationships, be it in the family, work place, with neighbors or wherever they to. They will therefore be the cause for disunity and division in various ways, and their lives will be a constant struggle. Woefully, since they do not heed advice, and always continue with the assumption that they are right, this will later be reflected in their own children. Only when that happens, there will be a sense of remorse that will set in, but sadly most of the time it will be too late, and of no use to them.

Do not be like a horse or a mule

These are the words of David in Psalm 32:9, “Don't be stupid like a horse or a mule, which must be controlled with a bit and bridle to make it submit." (GNB)

David cautioned us that one should not be like a stupid horse or mule which will never submit to anyone, until they are controlled with a bit and bridle.

The Israelites were a stubborn lot

These were the words of God to Moses in Exodus 32:9, “I know how stubborn these people are.” (GNB)

When the people of Israel were under cruel bondage in Egypt, the Lord did wonders and delivered them. The plagues that distressed the Egyptians did not do any harm to the Israelites. Pharaoh King of Egypt got frustrated with these plagues and finally set the Israelites free. As the Israelites journeyed through the wilderness, when Moses went up to the mountain to receive the laws and commandments from the Lord, the Israelites made a golden statue of a calf and began to worship it. God was so indignant with the Israelites that God referred to them as a stubborn and stiff-necked people. They forgot to give the honor and reverence due to God who brought them from captivity, and instead gave the glory to an idol that their hands had made.

As those who have been saved, if we do not give God the due place in our lives, and give it instead to our families, children, jobs, relationships or recreations we too are in danger of committing the sin the Israelites committed.

God’s judgement

We read in Exodus 32:10, “Now, don't try to stop me. I am angry with them, and I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants into a great nation." (GNB)

Only Moses was in the presence of God listening to the words of God, and at the same time the Israelites were at the foot of that mountain worshipping the golden calf. God therefore wanted to destroy all the people of Israel, and was ready to raise a generation through Moses. These are hard words of God, and the reason for their predicament was that the people of Israel were not willing to change their ways. Praise God that Moses interceded with God on behalf of the Israelites, and pleaded with God that God’s name should not be dishonored among those who lived around them. It was because of Moses that God withheld His anger, and restrained from destroying those rebellious people.

Even today the Lord Jesus is interceding for each one of us to God the Father, and that is the reason we are not being punished for our sins then and there. The Holy Spirit of God has also been given to us as our counselor and guide, and we should never fail to remember this.