MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - 21/07/2026

TUESDAY - 21ST JULY, 2026

MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - Olusola & Oreoluwa ADEJUMO

EFFORT EXERTED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION - Escaping Vain Labour Series 003

Jonah 4:9, KJV

"9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death."

You know when God wants to teach you a lesson, you cannot carry it over. Despite how stubborn Jonah is, God forces into his throat the lesson He wants him to learn. Don't get here with the Lord. 

We all know the background of this narrative. God sent Jonah to Nineveh but he wouldn't want to go there. He actually didn't do that without a reason. His reason is well documented here. It's a line where he raised an accusatory voice at God. 

Jonah 4:1-2, KJV

"1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.  

2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil."

For short, Jonah would have loved that God destroy Nineveh to prove his message and his being God's messenger to be true. Though they had repented, he was still angry that God had just turned away from His threat against them. He said for short, "this is why I didn't want to come on this errand. I know God will spare them. He forgives too much."

So, the lesson begins. God immediately ordains a gourd tree. It comes up in the night and matures quickly in order to shelter his head from the blasting sun. In order to bring God's message to Jonah very well, God ordains worms to eat the gourd's leaves. This exposes his head to the vehement East wind and sun. He almost fainted in the sun. In his word, he's not good for anything other than to die. He becomes very very angry at the destruction of that plant. He even pitied it. Imagine, that's what he didn't create. He would have loved that it lived for his own selfish gain. (Jonah 4:6-8). It is after this that God comes to him asking, "do you do well to be angry?" He said yes. Then God replies with these verses. 

Jonah 4:10-11, KJV

"10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 

11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"

What's the moral towards my own message? Jonah did vain labour - not in his coming to preach in Nineveh and not seeing his will established on them but in not surrendering to the Lord after it repented Him concerning Nineveh. Jonah was still waiting for God to change His mind and destroy Nineveh but God is a forgiving God. He has already taken His stance and He won't change from it. Why then would Jonah not pray that some other people (the Ninevites) enjoy God's graciousness like he already did? If he had submitted to God's decision and left once, he wouldn't have had to suffer humiliation to the extent that he wished for his own death because God made him suffer. That is because he exerted effort in the wrong direction where there was no way. He wanted to change God from forgiving Nineveh into judging them! As for Nineveh, God has forgiven them and Jonah cannot reverse it. He insisted but he was only building a house God was not building. A castle in space! He was thinking a vain thought and acting what would not materialize. As far as God is concerned and as said by His own mouth, "should I not save a city of over 120,000 people and animals who didn't know their right hand from their left?"

May you see and understand quickly. May you see the direction God is going and immediately submit to His will. When you argue, God will take you on a trip and that journey is always full of bitter lessons. May you not exert your labour in the wrong direction like Jonah. May you not even have to pity what is destined to die (as for the plant). Jonah did. He wanted to save the gourd but the destiny and ordainment of that plant was to be born and die once it achieves its purpose. Today, you're learning to surrender. May there be no more jangling and struggles in you. Whenever the Lord pronounces the direction He's going, may you just follow suit and be found to be in sync with Him. Anyone who refuses is in dislocation and they shall suffer some agonies.

PRAYER: Lord, give me a humble and forgiving spirit. Woe is a vessel that struggles with his Maker. May I be full of submission and surrender.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR 

II Chronicles 4:1-6:11, Romans 7:1-13, Psalm 17:1-15, Proverbs 19:22-23

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