When Obedience Tastes Bitter Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: When Obedience Tastes Bitter ----------------------- Date: 05/25/1999 Keywords: "attitude" "joy" "obedience" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. The three-minute Bible studies for May 21-24, are all taken from the Old Testament prophecy of Jonah. You can find the book of Jonah in its entirety by going to eXXit’s home page and clicking on "Search Systems." Type in "Jonah" in the "Passage" window and hit ENTER. The book of Jonah will appear. Enjoy! Passage: Jonah 4:1-11* 1. But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. 2. And he prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my {own} country? Therefore, in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that Thou art a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. 3. "Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life." 4. And the LORD said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?" 5. Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. 6. So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. 7. But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered. 8. And it came about when the sun came up that God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with {all} his soul to die, saying, "Death is better to me than life." 9. Then God said to Jonah, "Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?" And he said, "I have good reason to be angry, even to death." 10. Then the LORD said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work, and {which} you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. 11. "And should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know {the difference} between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" Questions 1. Jonah went to Nineveh, according to God’s command. Did he do what God told him to do once he got there?   2. What happened in response to his preaching? How would you think it should make a prophet feel to have that kind of a response?   3. How did Jonah feel? Why do you think he felt that way?   Practical help Jonah did everything God told him to do, but ended up hating every minute of his obedience. That’s because he was like the child who sits down when his dad forces him into the chair, but looks up defiantly and says, "I may be sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing up on the inside!" Jonah obeyed God, but without an attitude of submission. It is possible for someone to hear God’s call to sexual purity and stop viewing Internet porn — and hate every minute he is away from the screen. Something is missing if this happens, and that something is an understanding of the goodness of God. God wants our purity, yes. But He wants us to pursue purity and flee sexual immorality because of our love for Him and our recognition that what He commands is good for us. It is possible that you are caught up in Web porn, realize that it is wrong and are trying to break the habit. If so, wonderful. But, in all of your efforts at self-control, don’t forget that there is a God who loves you and who has your best interests at heart who is directing you to sexual purity. When you turn off the screen or walk away from porn, you can do so with a joyful heart. It is the God-ordained path to life. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 1999 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."