Appointed

Y'all.

Seriously.

There is a opossum carcass under my front porch. Right. by. the. kitchen. You have NO idea the smell that can come from this thing. I mean, seriously. It's my fault that it lasted this long, really. I thought a cat that Larry and I were befriending was making his mark. Until Larry relocated the kitty and the temperature turned from 20 to 60 degrees. No words to describe this.

Why in the WORLD would I torture you with this image?

Jonah.

Last night we were studying about Jonah and brought up that 4 times the NASB says that God "appointed" different items of nature into Jonah's life. First, the whale was appointed to swallow him in the first chapter. Then in the 4th while Jonah's having his middle school revenge pity party moment, God appoints a plant to shade him, a worm to eat the plant and a scorching wind and sun upon Jonah. The question we were asking was, have we ever experienced this type of God's appointment in our lives? I couldn't help but think of that opossum and what divine lesson it's supposed to be bringing. It may not be bringing one at all, it may just have found our porch cool and supportive in his last moments. Just like the whale just may have been hungry.

Who knows! But it's definitely made me think about what items I should have seen (or smelled) in an early-detection-system kind of way. I knew the smell was there, but I assumed it was my responsibility and didn't consider it further. Are there warning signs cropping up that are being ignored? Be warned. The smell is horrific a week later! Are there things we are letting rot that we really need to dig up and throw out? Friends in relationships: I can't help but think of how many times we could be detecting things early, braving through the digging and throwing out process, and tackling them head-on before they really start permeating other places in our marriage. The process isn't pretty, but it's surely not going to get any prettier in the meantime. I make a short appeal to consider this.

The message of the appointments is the same message Daniel shared at the House this week, the conclusion of the prodigal son. It is an invitation. We don't know how Jonah responded to the appointments, but we do know the options Jonah was given. God continued to appoint for Jonah means of showing Himself, means of preserving Jonah and showing evidence of his grace in order that Jonah could choose whether or not to enter into the celebration of the salvation of Ninevah. The prodigal son had the same invitation-- the Father pursues both the younger AND the older son to invite them into the celebration of the lost son. Yours is the same.'

Still surprised how I went from a opossum carcass to salvation? Me, too. ;)