October 15
Scripture Reading: Jonah 4
Lynn and I had a little garden this summer in our backyard. We grew some beans, squash, cucumbers and tomatoes. The tomatoes did fairly well, as did the beans. We had several squash, but only two cucumbers. I’ll have to say some of our best success came by accident. Last year about this time, Lynn bought a white pumpkin for her fall decoration plans. When it was time to take down the decorations, I rolled the pumpkin down the hill to a brush pile in the pasture. We burned that brush pile three times over the fall and winter, but this summer we were surprised to see a huge pumpkin vine growing where the brush pile had been. We harvested six neat, white pumpkins. Lynn was more excited about those pumpkins than all of our other crops.
We brought those pumpkins in the house last week and set them on an island in our kitchen. Lynn was so excited. She took some pictures of her white pumpkins and was anxious to add them to her fall decorations. The next morning we noticed something on the island around each pumpkin. It was little blobs of pulp that had oozed out of tiny holes. Worm holes! Those white pumpkins were full of wholes; no, they were full of worms. The first thing Lynn said was, “This is like Jonah’s worm that ate his gourd.”
God uses the funniest things to get His messages across at times. We saw Him use a donkey with Balaam, and He used a worm for a disgruntled prophet. Little did this tiny creature know that he would perform a task for God that would live on throughout eternity. (Psalms 119:89) I’m sure he didn’t realize the importance of his munching on Jonah’s gourd, but God used him and his natural abilities to accomplish an important work. Don’t ever feel like He could never use you.
Pastor Steve W. Smith
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