The Lesson of the Gourd
Jonah 4:7
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.


Jonah's gourd teaches us that the Lord mercifully cares for the comfort of His creatures, and that He is kind even to the unthankful and to the evil. Perhaps Jonah was a little too glad of the temporal refreshment of the gourd. This is the mistake we are all tempted to commit with regard to our temporal comforts and conveniences. We are so glad of them that we pillow our hearts upon them. But are our earthly comforts incorruptible and undecaying? There is a worm at the root of all our earthly comforts. The fashion of this world passeth away. But let a man, through grace, enjoy his comforts soberly, habitually regarding them as transient things; let him look up through the gift unto the Giver, and then, when his gourd is withered, he will still bless and magnify the Hand that withered it.

(A. Roberts, M. A.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

WEB: But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.




The God of the Worm
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