The Gourd and the Worm

Jonah 4:6‑7  •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 9
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“So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd” (Jonah 4:66And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. (Jonah 4:6)). Not only was he “glad,” but he was “exceeding glad,” even as he had been “exceedingly... displeased” because of God’s mercy. How we delight today in those temporal mercies that add to our comfort comforts which are often to us what Jonah’s gourd was to him the cause of exceeding gladness.
“But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered” (Jonah 4:77But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. (Jonah 4:7)). Whether a fish or a worm, God “prepared” them both. As we see things which have added to our temporal comfort fade and die, we do well to consider whether it is our own loving God who Himself has prepared the worm to make them pass away. We often learn lessons in adversity, scorching suns, poverty and want that we never could have learned in prosperity, ease and luxury.
G. C. Willis