Misplaced Concern
“But the LORD said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”
The cat killed a hummingbird. I didn’t think this was possible. Hummingbirds move so fast. The average hummingbird flaps it’s wings 53 times per minute and they travel around 30-45 MPH.
The cat is a stray that hangs out in the woods behind our apartment. We started feeding it a few months ago because he seemed hungry.
This morning, my wife was in the kitchen, and glanced towards the window. She saw the cat jump, and quickly ran outside. The cat had indeed killed the hummingbird and carried it to the side of the apartment. I came outside after she told me and angrily chased the cat in the woods.
I’m not a violent person but I wanted to kill the cat. (My wife had a proper perspective on this and said the cat was acting out of natural instincts.)
I was also mourning the loss of a beautiful hummingbird.
Then I could hear in my spirit, that I was angrier at a cat for killing a bird, and sorrowing for the loss, when there are so many in the world who are suffering. I need to show that kind of concern for them.
This brought to mind the story of Jonah. He hated the people of Ninevah because they were so cruel to the nation of Israel. He reluctantly went and preached to them, and they repented of their sins. God spared them, and Jonah was really angry.
God caused a plant to spring up to give Jonah shade, and then let a worm destroy it overnight.
Jonah became furious and wanted to die.
God showed Jonah that his compassion was misplaced. He was more concerned about a plant that died than the multitude of people who were in need of God.
During this pandemic and time if social conflict, am I more concerned about how this has affected me? That I can’t go and do the things I’m used to doing?
May we all be more concerned, compassionate and love those in need, more than anything else. The first thing we can do is to pray. Then, ask God to show us how we can help.
