John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray. The disciples of Jesus came and asked him to teach them how to pray. He taught them the prayer that we know as the Our Father. You’ll find it in today’s Gospel reading from Luke 11.
In the first reading from Jonah 4, we read, “Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry that God did not carry out the evil he threatened against Nineveh.” This wasn’t the only thing that honked Jonah off. Later he gets all atwitter about a plant. And God calls him on it. God reveals Jonah’s pettiness, his self-centeredness.
Have you ever been angry with God? At the time it probably seemed as though God was being mean to you. That he picked you out of the entire universe to pick on that day or week or month or whatever time period it was. If you think about it, it really is silly, isn’t it? That with all of the things going on in the world, God would choose to make your life miserable. I can assure you, my friend, that God has no need of that. And if you look back, I hope you are able to see now that God only did what was best for you. If you see it in the proper light, hopefully you will see growth that came from that challenge. God never want to hurt you. He loves you far too much for that.
Father, forgive us for the times when we get angry with you. You know that those are times when we are not seeing clearly. Help us to always experience your love and grace. Amen.
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