Paton: God concerned for the wicked

Sunday, October 11, 2015
    Commemoration of Ethelburga, Abbess of Barking, 675
Meditation:
    But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”
    —Jonah 4:10-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To think of the Communists as the executors of God’s judgment should not strike us as strange if we have read our Bibles. The same study should free us from the assumption that God will always be on our side whatever we do, will always protect His Church from temporal evil, or that He is only concerned with the faithful believers. It was precisely His concern for the wicked Ninevites that so distressed the prophet Jonah.
    ... David M. Paton (1913-1992), Christian Missions and the Judgment of God, London: SCM Press, 1953, p. 20 (see the book)
    See also Jon. 4:10-11; Isa. 1:18-20; Luke 15:28-32; Acts 14:27; 17:29-30; Rom. 15:15-16; Eph. 2:1-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your plan is perfect. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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