Jonah 4 NKJV
To give a brief resume of the situation, God had told Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach to a city full of lost souls. However, he refused and caught a ship that took him the other way, to Tarshish. Their had been a great tempest on the water and the crew, thinking Jonah was a jinx, had thrown him overboard. However, God rescued him by ordering a whale to swallow him up. As soon as Jonah came to his senses and repented, the whale was ordered to vomit Jonah onto dry ground. Jonah was once again told to go to Nineveh and preach to the people, which he did, the result being that the city repented of their sin.
Jonah now became angry and displeased. Why? Because God had seen how Nineveh had repented and changed their ways, He therefore had shown them mercy and forgiven them. Jonah totally disagreed with this and actually argued with God about it. You may feel that Jonah was totally out of line here and I must agree. However, it flags up the times that you may feel like this when people in our churches or communities thrive and become a leading light, when you consider that they don't deserve it. Do you hold a grudge or have bad feeling towards someone? Are you keeping a record of wrongs? Jonah certainly was.
Actually when you consider this, it sounds quite bizarre. A preacher normally thrives on the harvest that is received from their preaching. It's an overwhelming feeling when this happens. However, to feel like Jonah was feeling is extremely strange.
David Guzik writes: 'Jonah was angry because God granted repentance to the Ninevites, and the Assyrians were enemies of Judah and Israel. Jonah wanted God to bring judgement upon these people he hated.' (Enduring Word)
Jonah knew that God would forgive them because of His grace and mercy. This is why he didn't want to go there in the first place. Jonah had called on God when he had refused to go to Nineveh. He had walked away from his mission and been swallowed by a whale and yet God had showed him mercy. It was rather hypocritical to resent the Ninevites being forgiven. In fact, it was totally selfish. It leaves the question; what if God had treated him this way?
What right had Jonah to be angry? The answer - none. And neither do we when God doesn't do what we want Him to. What right have we? Jonah even had the audacity to sit outside the city waiting for judgement to come on Nineveh. Unbelievable.
He showed a sign of happiness when God gave him a plant to shelter him from the intense heat and sun, but the next day, sulked because it had withered and shrivelled up. He blamed God for this but it was God's way of showing him how important life is and how it can be shrivelled up overnight. If Jonah felt such compassion for a mere plant, what about the 120,000 people of Nineveh? Where was his compassion for them or his priority? However this fell on deaf ears. The only thing Jonah showed was that he anted to die - again. A totally childish and selfish attitude.
At times, we can be blind and deaf to people's needs. There's a few lessons to be learned from Jonah's actions. He had very little compassion. He was wrapped up in his own wants and needs, and his selfishness, left to him, would have let a whole city full of people, die.
The study of the book of Jonah, should make us all look within ourselves. There is no place in the Kingdom of God for selfishness, hatred, lack of compassion, anger and bad feeling towards other people. After all, Jesus came to rescue people from their sin, and He expects His workers - us - to offer one and all, mercy and love as He has offered to us all.
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
dailylifewithjesus@hotmail.com
dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com
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