"A New Heart" -Too

"I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee." (Psalms 144:9)

  It is really not just a matter of forgiveness, although it is a really good start; it is a matter of the reason behind our need to forgive, because it is a matter of the heart. As I was praying about this post this morning, I had a vision of Jonah as he was sitting under the bush that God had made to cover him. We know that this message about Jonah was important because Jesus used it to illustrate His three days within the tomb and the heart of the Jewish people, (Matthew 12:39-41); but it ends rather odd, because Jonah really does not change his heart. As a matter of fact, Jonah became bitter and unhappy; a simple case of "Stinkin-Thinkin" had come over him and was causing his own heart to actually wish the he would just die. This might not seem to some that it has anything to do with David's song; but it has everything to do with giving thanks to God! The challenge we have when it comes to forgiveness is not the actual act, but the reason! If we could see the reason clear enough, we would not only want to forgive, we would want to make up for anything that resembled hate in our hearts. Remember what Jesus said about hate, that is was the same as murder; just as lusting over someone else was the same as adultery; it is a matter of the heart! Basically, that means that there is something a matter with my heart, if I feel hate towards my bother or my sister. In the case of Jonah, his hate was towards 120,000 people; which was not only wrong, but it was contrary to God's will, which was to have mercy on them and make them an example of His great mercy. The Book of Jonah ends with a question from God to Jonah; which might cause someone to question asking Jonah, whether it was a fish or a whale, if we see him in heaven. But then again, the Book ends before he has a chance to answer...

"And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the LORD, Thou hast pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" (Jonah 4:9-11)