Not Always As It Seems

10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

4But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 2He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. 3And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ 4And the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’

11And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’ ~ Jonah 3:10, 4:1-4, 11

Centuries ago, Jonah was sure that he was delivering a pronouncement of coming judgment on Nineveh, but God chose, instead, to grant mercy to this city that had listened to the message delivered by Jonah and repented of their sinfulness and turned back to worshiping God.  This greatly upset Jonah, who found it difficult to accept that the message he delivered was not fulfilled by God.  He didn't understand why God had changed His mind.  The purpose of the message from God was not so much to punish, as it was to get people to recognize their sinful ways, repent and return to God. 

I have often been told that I have a tone to my voice that I don't realize I have.  Even as a child growing up and speaking to my parents, I would have "that tone" that they took as "back-talk," when I didn't feel I was speaking disrespectfully at the time.  Even today, my spouse or children will tell me I have "that tone" or I will accuse my spouse of the very same thing - interpreting a meaning with the tone I am hearing that was not intended to be relayed to me in the first place.  This can cause arguments very easily when I tend to "read into" words and actions more than there was meant to be. 

We need to always be mindful that how we interpret what we hear, (as well as how we relay our own messages to others).  Taking what we hear with a grain of salt and letting the "possible hurt feelings" just run off of our backs like "water off a duck's bill" is sometimes the best way to handle conversations that upset us.  It doesn't mean that we shouldn't look for the message we are to be receiving, but instead look for how this message is to help us in the future - not taking it too much to heart, allowing it to hurt us when that was never the intention of the message in the first place.  Hurt feelings do not help us better ourselves, but messages meant to help our decision making in the future IS good for us.  We all need to try to always separate the message from the feelings when the message might initially sound hurtful - it may not be meant to hurt us at all - and quickly forgive anything that might lead us to believe anything other than to that it is to help us in the long run. 

Prayer 

Lord,

Help us to always listen for the real messages being given to us by others instead of misinterpreting their messages from a tone of voice or allowing it to hurt us in a way that it was never meant to.  Help us to always find what a message is trying to teach us and use it to grow in ways that better ourselves and our lives with one another.  Let us not hold onto hurt feelings, but rather forgive those that may have had no intention of hurting us in the first place, for they only have our best interests at heart, as do You.  Amen.

~ Wendy Miller