The Watchman's Diary

If you live in the west, you have most likely heard or used the phrase “two steps forward, one step back” or “I can’t win for losing”. This is because a goal you are working toward is encountering resistance or setback. This can cause us to feel a range of emotions and set our focus squarely on the problem before us. If we are not careful, anger may become the dominant emotion but anger which never leads to a productive outcome. Our focus on the problem will always cause us to overlook the purpose of the problem, especially if there is a supernatural origin to it.

If you are not familiar with the story of Jonah, I encourage you to go back an read the entire book. Jonah tried to run away from what God called him to, but his plan failed, and God forgave and spared his enemies. Jonah hated the people of Nineveh and wanted God to judge them but when that didn’t happen, he decided to sulk in his anger. Jonah went outside the city and erected a shelter where he waited to see what would happen, as if waiting for God to change His mind and destroy the city, as he did Sodom and Gomorrah. Jonah seemed fine with the shelter he built but God caused a plant to grow and cover the gaps in his construction. This made Jonah very happy, but the next day God sent a worm to eat away at the plant, which cause it to wither. Jonah was now exposed the extreme heat, and he became very angry. Jonah was angry about losing the plant which he didn’t cause to grow, and likely at the worm that damaged it. There is no mention about his displeasure about the imperfect shelter he constructed. 

What goals are you working toward and what have you erected to bring you comfort, joy, and prosperity? What expectations are you looking to from the shelter you have created to shield you from the elements of this world? Have you seen the hand of God filling the gaps to bring about the successes that you’ve experience along the way? Do you see his ordained purpose when those successes wither away, and are left with your own imperfect structure?

We like to take credit for the successes in life and take great pride in what we build. Unfortunately, we often miss where God has produced a coving to fill the gaps in our plans. In this same way, we often miss the ordained purpose of the worm when we experience failures or obstacles in life. We become angry about losing the covering that we didn’t create and the worm that is simply accomplishing its ordained purpose. In our rage, we completely ignore the One who created the covering and who sent the worm to shift our focus. 

Don’t get angry at the worms in your life, for they are merely doing what God has ordained of them. Their purpose is to cause the gaps that God has filled to become apparent and to move our focus from ourselves to the One who prospers us. The worm in our lives is ordained to drive us out of our place or comfort into the righteous purposes of God. The worm is ordained to help us realize that we are not the focus of the story but a player in God’s redemptive plan. While we would like to sit comfortably under the shelter God has perfected for us, He wants us to move on to the next phase of His redemptive plan. Jonah’s story ended with him sitting outside the city of God’s mercy, being scorched by a “vehement east wind” wishing that he would die (Jonah 4:8).

Will you also sit outside the circumstances of His grace, so angry at the obstacles to your plans that you fail to join in His plans for your life? Instead of being angry at the worm in your life, seek to gain knowledge of its purpose and to understand why it was ordained in the first place. Seek the One who makes perfect our plans and fills in the gaps of our limitations and we will join in the celebration of those on whom He has shown mercy.