Our love has limits; God’s love is limitless.

我们的爱有限，上帝的爱却是无限。

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented. Jonah 3:10 

于是上帝察看他们的行为，见他们离开恶道，祂就后悔。-约拿书3章10节

Sighted numerous times off the coast of Australia’s South Queensland, Migaloo is the first albino humpback whale ever documented. The splendid creature, estimated at more than forty feet long, is so rare that Australia passed a law specifically to protect him.

在澳大利亚南昆士兰的海岸，常看到一头壮硕的鲸鱼，它是目前唯一被人发现的全白座头鲸。这超过12公尺的巨型美丽生物十分罕见，以至当地政府特别制定法令来保护它。

The Bible tells us about a “huge fish” so rare that God had provided it especially to swallow a runaway prophet (Jonah 1:17). Most know the story. God told Jonah to take a message of judgment to Nineveh. But Jonah wanted nothing to do with the Ninevites, who had a reputation for cruelty to just about everyone—including the Hebrews. So he fled. Things went badly. From inside the fish, Jonah repented. Eventually he preached to the Ninevites, and they repented too (3:5–10).

我们知道圣经也提到上帝安排一只“大鱼”，吞下了一个逃跑的先知（约拿书1章17节）。上帝要约拿去尼尼微城传达审判的信息，但约拿排斥尼尼微人，因他们素来以残暴著称，又迫害希伯来人，所以他逃跑了。后来约拿遇到困境，致使他在鱼腹中悔改。最后他向尼尼微人宣告上帝的话语，人们就相信，并也愿意悔改（3章5-10节）。

Great story, right? Except it doesn’t end there. While Nineveh repented, Jonah pouted. “Isn’t this what I said, Lord?” he prayed. “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love” (4:2). Having been rescued from certain death, Jonah’s sinful anger grew until even his prayer became suicidal (v. 3).

很棒的故事，对吧？但它还没结束，当尼尼微人悔改时，约拿却生气地祷告：“耶和华啊，我……岂不是这样说吗？我知道祢是有恩典、有怜悯的上帝，不轻易发怒，有丰盛的慈爱”（4章2节）。约拿从濒死中被拯救，心中的愤怒却不断增加，甚至求上帝取他的性命（3节）。

The story of Jonah isn’t about the fish. It’s about our human nature and the nature of the God who pursues us. “The Lord is patient with you,” wrote the apostle Peter, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God offers His love to brutal Ninevites, pouting prophets, and you and me.

约拿书的主题跟鱼无关，而是关于我们的人性，以及那位寻找我们的上帝之神性。使徒彼得写道：“[主]乃是宽容你们，不愿有一人沉沦，乃愿人人都悔改”（彼得后书3章9节）。上帝爱残酷的尼尼微人，祂也爱满怀怒气的先知，祂更爱你和我。

Loving heavenly Father, we are so prone to look at what other people “deserve” and so quick to miss the fact that we need Your love as much as everyone else. Would You help us to live in Your love and to tell others about it?

慈爱的天父，我们总是倾向于去看别人所“应得”的事物，却很快地忽略了一个事实：我们与其他人一样，也需要祢的爱。祢能帮助我们活在祢的爱中，并且传扬祢的爱吗？

Jonah 3:10-4:4    NIV

3 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

4 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

约拿书 3:10-4:4

3 奉神旨意于是神察看他们的行为，见他们离开恶道，他就后悔，不把所说的灾祸降于他们了。

4 这事约拿大大不悦，且甚发怒， 2 就祷告耶和华说：“耶和华啊，我在本国的时候，岂不是这样说吗？我知道你是有恩典有怜悯的神，不轻易发怒，有丰盛的慈爱，并且后悔不降所说的灾，所以我急速逃往他施去。 3 耶和华啊，现在求你取我的命吧！因为我死了比活着还好。” 4 耶和华说：“你这样发怒合乎理吗？”

INSIGHT

灵粮透视

What a difference a couple of chapters can make in the tone of Jonah’s prayers! In Jonah 2:2, the desperate prophet prayed, “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.” But in Jonah 4:3, he asks God to kill him. God answered the first prayer miraculously, delivering Jonah from death. But with the second prayer, God simply asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (4:4). Then Jonah actually repeats his death wish. “I’m so angry I wish I were dead” (v. 9). Even then, God appealed to Jonah by sharing His heart for all of humanity. “Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh?” God even extends His concern to the animals that would have been destroyed in Nineveh (v. 11). The book of Jonah provides a fascinating contrast between human nature, which is self-serving, and the profoundly loving and patient character of God.

在约拿书短短的几章经文中，我们看到约拿祷告的语调有很大的变化！在约拿书2章2节，这位绝望的先知祷告说：“我遭遇患难求告耶和华，祢就应允我。”但在4章3节，他却求上帝取了他的性命。上帝施行神迹，回应了他第一次的祈求，救约拿脱离了死亡。但对约拿第二次的祈求，上帝只是问他：“你这样发怒对不对呢？”（4章4节，新译本）但约拿却再次表露他想死的愿望，说：“我发怒以致于死都是对的”（9节，新译本）。虽然如此，上帝却向约拿表明了祂对全人类的心意，祂甚至关心尼尼微城中本来要被毁灭的动物，祂说：“这尼尼微大城……我岂能不爱惜呢？”（11节）约拿书让我们看到一个鲜明的对比，一边是人自私的本性，另一边是上帝慈爱和宽容的特质。

How do we respond to God’s grace to us? Do we resent it when He extends that grace to others we may perceive as “worse” than we are? Do we resemble Jonah when things don’t go the way we’d like them to?

我们如何回应上帝赐给我们的恩典呢？当上帝赐恩典给那些看似比我们“更坏”的人时，我们是否也会心怀不平？当事情的发展未如预期时，我们也会像约拿那样吗？

整理：于姊妹