Aug. 20, 2026: THE GOD WHO WEEPS FOR THE LOST

BIG IDEA: It’s important to determine if our personal greater purpose actually matches up with God’s greater purpose for our lives.

Reading:
Jonah 4:10-11
“And the LORD said, ‘You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.
And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?’”

Luke 19:41-44
“And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!
But now they are hidden from your eyes.
For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side
and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you.
And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.’”

John 11:35
“Jesus wept.”

Devotional:
The final two verses of Jonah are among the most stunning in all of Scripture.
God does not end the book with a command or a rebuke. He ends it with a question soaked in grief.  And an implied call that we all take a serious look in the mirror regarding our own hearts.  

He points to 120,000 people who do not know their right hand from their left — people who have never encountered the grace and mercy of the living God — and He says, “Should I not be deeply concerned about them?”

The word translated as “pity” or “concern” carries the weight of compassion and sorrow. God weeps for the lost.

This is the heart of God.  

Luke 19 shows Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. John 11 shows Jesus weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. The God of the Bible is not cold, distant, or emotionally detached. He is holy, yes. He is just, yes. But He is also deeply compassionate.

The question Jonah 4 leaves us with is whether our hearts are beginning to look anything like His.

Reflection:
When you encounter people who are spiritually lost or whose lives look nothing like yours, what is your first emotional response — judgment, indifference, or genuine compassion?

Practical Application:
Spend fifteen minutes today reading about a people group, community, or part of the world where the gospel has little or no presence. Allow yourself to feel something. Ask God to make His grief for the lost become your grief as well.

Song of the Day:
Hillsong United - Came To My Rescue