"Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious" Jonah 4 CSB
When Jonah saw that the people from Nineveh had repented and that God had forgiven them and decided not to destroy the place, he was angry. In fact, he was furious. Once again he stormed off from God's presence to a piece of waste ground out of the city and prayed God would take his life. Basically, he was saying to God, 'I knew this would happen, I knew you would forgive and give them another chance. It's not fair.' He didn't want God's grace to fall upon Nineveh; they were wicked and deep down he thought they would refuse God and be destroyed. When they chose God, he again rebelled.
It may be difficult to understand Jonah's reasoning but, be honest, are there people whose salvation would make you become angry? Think of the worst of the bunch, would you want them to have a place in heaven, in your church or even in your home group? How would you feel if God acted this way towards you?
Was Jonah waiting for the Ninevites zeal for God to fade so that God would send a Sodom and Gomorrah experience on them? It's possible. How much he would have loved to say to God, 'I told you so, a leopard doesn't change its spots.' Jonah only saw the negative circumstances. He was more concerned about the loss of his plant (v7-9) than he was about the salvation of this city's inhabitants who could go to hell. He may have had God's Word in his head and mouth but, he didn't have God's heart and this is a problem in the world today. Divisions cause church splits and broken lives because people have the knowledge of God in their head but lack this in their heart. We need heart knowledge, all the colleges and study books in the world cannot give people this, we need a spirit-filled, power-packed, explosive-generated experience of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Only then will our hearts be full of knowledge.
How is your heart? Have you head or heart knowledge; only you know this but be encouraged because, Jesus is your best friend and He wants to help you - and me also, to be changed more deeply into His likeness. Jonah's first prayer in the belly of the fish was from a broken heart, the second one at Nineveh was from a heart of anger. He may have felt peer pressure from his friends back home who hated the Assyrians. He cared more for his reputation than people's lives.
But we are the people of God, the only reputation we want is that we belong to Jesus and will spread His love wherever we are and whenever we can. Some may not like this but, God will.
Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.
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