
“And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.”
Jonah 4:6 NKJV
“Minutus is the Latin word for “small” which gives rise to both the adjective minute (my-noot), or incredibly small, and the noun minute (min-it), or 60 seconds of time.”
Defined by ‘Vocabulary.com Dictionary’.
I had some major pressure to urinate. I know, this is kind-of embarrassing here, but the nurses wouldn’t let it go. I kept telling them I would go on my own but the nurse on record said in a stern tone; “Amy Jo, I’m not leaving till you do!” I could tell in her eyes she meant business too. She was a beautiful little Hispanic lady, tiny, but at the same time gave you the vibe that you better do it, or else!
For the life of me I couldn’t do it. I had six hours to prove to them I could produce, only to disappoint. The other nurse came in and drained my bladder with a catheter, then said these magic words; “Ok Amy, we are going to let you try another four hours to urinate on your own, but if you don’t, you’re getting another IV (the last one they gave me blew my vein) and a catheter. Are we clear?”
“Yes ma’am! Stat!”, was all I could muster to say, and then they both quietly left my room. (Don’t really know why the word “stat” came out, but I’m sure I saw it on a medical Netflix show or pain meds kicking in....who knows but it did make them chuckle a little)
Talk about pressure! From that moment on, all I remember was drinking tons of water and about an hour in, I went to the toilet, scared to death. I was crying out to God saying; “Please Lord, Oh, I need Your help! Please make me go!” I didn’t even say “Amen,” when pee started draining into the measuring bucket. I remember crying out, raising my hands in praise, and shouting with tears running down my face; “Thank you God, You Are in the minute details of my life!!”
Guys, this blog is so real to me, more than ever because this example is just one of many minute details God has answered! I’m crying as I’m typing this because of how my heart has turned toward God by Him answering these in my different seasons, the good, the bad, and the ugly. To think He loves us so much to answer the minutes, to answer the small, the ‘not so important to many but number one to us’ issues,... oh the deep, deep love of our Jesus!
A bible character I can truly relate to is Jonah. He reminds me so much of myself at times; demanding his way, getting angry when God does something great in others, picky about who he’s going to minister to, and just plain dissatisfied in life! Can’t we all relate to these moments? Jonah made a “minute” decision (in his mind) to run from God’s presence, but God made a vast decision to not let him go. Even in a three days journey in the intestines of a whale, Jonah’s heart had to beat like God’s. Jonah had to see that the “minute” decision to run wasn’t a decision he needed to make and it would have caused immense consequences. Now just as important as it is to know our decisions matter, it’s even more important to know that when we run away from God’s plan, God’s will always succeeds because He’s Sovereign and God doesn’t need us to complete it. The pleasure comes when He uses us to fulfill His will anyway, and what a pleasure it is to be used!
What I find funny in this story, as well as being totally relatable, was that after God worked miracles through Jonah with the Assyrians, Jonah still wasn’t happy and continued in this negative state of heart and mind even praying to ‘just die’. But God, being the gentle Savior He is and will always be, responded by asking him if he had the right to be angry in the first place. Of course Jonah doesn’t answer God, which I find myself doing when I know God is right.
As the story goes on, God provides shade for Jonah so he isn’t in discomfort from the sun. As well as providing shade, God also provides a lesson by appointing a worm to eat the plant and then causing the sun to beat down on Jonah, which we hear Jonah’s “wretched prayer” of dying again. Then God asks the same question a second time, but Jonah answers this time with a yes! If we were a ”fly-on-the-wall”, I’m sure we would hear some major attitude from Jonah’s answer. God gives Jonah a lesson that day on what is “minute”; a plant to cover shade or 120,000 people whom He created that didn’t know their right hand from their left....you be the judge Jonah...
In the minute things “we define” of life, God has a much greater plan in them.
But what I have also found, is that in the minute things “I want answered” of life, God wants to answer them not only for His Glory, but to show me His great love for me. When we see time and time again the answers to our small matters, a compassion and closeness grows in us, knowing that the God of the universe is in love with us and cares deeply for us! What a Savior...
From a grateful guest,
A Traveler Just Passing Through....
Amy
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