Jonah – Chapter 4 Bible study 1 - Part 4
A Dissatisfied Messenger
In chapter 3:10 we read that God saw that the Ninevites turned from their evil ways. He did not bring destruction down on them and that just makes Jonah mad.
4:1, 2 BUT…well here we go, Jonah in his self righteous indignation is ticked! He sees that God forgives this terrible people – as he states later…he just knew* that God would be too gracious and compassionate to destroy Nineveh! *I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm. (4:26 NKJV)
Whether Jonah is angry at God, the Ninevites or himself it doesn’t say but it is clear that he is very unhappy with the outcome of his efforts.
I wonder – did Jonah want to say “I told you so” to the Lord? If the Ninevites had not repented perhaps he could have waggled his finger under the nose of God and said accusingly “See”! Yet, I also suppose that if the Ninevites hadn’t repented, Jonah may not have gotten out alive.
Jonah is so focused on self that he ‘accuses’ God of his mercy and grace instead of praising Him for it. I guess to be fair to Jonah, he also was afraid that the enemy of Israel would receive favor in the eyes of God. Israel had suffered much because of the acts of evil people.
Have you ever felt that you can no longer live with a specific truth in your life? It seems more than you can bear. You don’t want to ‘feel’ anymore. You want the hurt, uncertainty, shame, discouragement and pain to go away. Somehow, you get through it, one day at a time; Jonah couldn’t look forward.
Jonah [vs. 3] pleads with the Lord. He says that it would be better to be dead than to go on living. He asks God to take away his life. He wants to die.
He is no different here than Elijah was when he ran away from Jezebel; he too wanted God to take his life. It is enough! Now Lord take my life…
(I Kings 19:4 NKJV)
If he really felt that way- I mean, if he really wanted to die-why run from Jezebel? She would have been happy to put an end to his life.
Yet…sometimes we just don’t feel as if we can go another day. We feel alone; sometimes betrayed and we become weary. We are not unlike Biblical heroes when it comes to dealing with emotions. They are slippery aspects to our character and if we are not careful, we can allow emotions to guide us instead of seeding the Lord’s direction.
God dealt with Jonah by looking deep into the heart of the matter. It wasn’t Jonah’s right to be angry and God pointed that out by asking the question “Do you have a right (reason) to be angry? [vs. 4]
When I was a little girl, sometimes I would get really, really upset with my mom. I can remember saying “that’s not fair!” and stomping hard on each step as I traveled up to my room. That’s the Jonah I see here.
Vs. 5 – “Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.” I guess he figured if he stomped away and pouted it would change the Lord’s mind about destroying Nineveh. After all…as I stomped up the stairs as a child – I was saying in effect “you don’t understand! ...you’re wrong!” Our children do that to us and we in turn have been known to do the same to our Father in heaven. Thankfully, our God isn’t influenced by our ungodly and childlike behavior.
I assume that Jonah expected to stay awhile. Isn’t it ironic? First he can’t get far enough away from Nineveh, attempting to reach Tarshish-the furthest point of the Levantine commercial sphere during ancient times. Now however, he prepares a booth for shelter; to sit and observe what is going to happen to the city and its inhabitants.
While Jonah was waiting, God provided a vine to grow up over Jonah to shade him during the heat of the day [vs. 6]. Wow! What a gracious Lord! Jonah now has a front row seat with extra shade provided by God himself. He can sit back and watch the wrath of God…and for what seems to be the first time in a long time…Jonah is happy.
More than being gracious; our Lord is a God of wisdom. Never fool yourself into thinking that you have manipulated God and his ways. He always sees the end from the beginning of all circumstances. Though we can often remember days behind us, we can see no further than the moment we are in. To think otherwise could be very detrimental. God, by his omniscience prepared a lesson for Jonah through the miracle of the vine and the worm. Jonah was very happy for the vine. It gave him comfort in his moments of selfishness!
Vs. 7 - In the morning, God provided a worm, a very special hungry worm, to destroy the vine. The sun was blazing hot on Jonah’s head and to make it worse God provided a scorching east wind [vs. 8], so much so that Jonah felt faint and repeats again… “It would be better for me to die than to live.” [vs. 8, 9, 10] and once again he is willing to cash it in. It seems, at least for the moment that Jonah’s attention is off Nineveh and on himself. He is angry again, but this time he is angry about the vine (me- I would have taken it out on the worm!).
It wasn’t very long before this event that Jonah was calling out to the Lord from what seemed to be a certain death – he had been swallowed by a great fish, a whale if you desire. Yet, he didn’t plead to die in that circumstance; what makes the difference here?
Remember, Jonah is a messenger, a preacher in God’s army. He was called on to do a job; he did it, though reluctantly, still, he did it. It just didn’t turn out the way that he had planned. Certainly, he might have thought, ‘if I do what I am told, it will be over with, the Ninevites will be dead and I can go home.’
Believers must never try to out think God. We can never begin to understand his intellect. He sees what we cannot. He loves in ways that we do not yet understand. He heals hurts that we are unaware of. He is a God of righteousness in a universe(s) of sin. When we are focused on ourselves, He is aware of the hurts and needs of every creature. How could we ever assume that we could be right and He not be? We don’t need to understand why God chooses to do as he does; we only need to trust him.
So…here it comes. Vs. 9 God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” Jonah tells him he does have the right and that he is angry enough to die! This seasoned man of God once more reminds me of the pouting child who has flopped down with his arms folded across his chest and refuses to be moved…or to be wrong.
Jonah became angry over the loss of his shade vine when I didn’t deserve it in the first place. He didn’t plant it, or grow it [vs. 10] but when he lost it he was spiteful enough to tell God that he did have a reason to be angry. Have you ever been guilty of blame shifting? I have, it is humbling when God makes you look into the mirror and see yourself as you are.
God gave Jonah some insight on Nineveh: [vs. 11]
Nineveh had more than 120 thousand people who could not discern left from right (right from wrong). They had many cattle as well. God is a God who loves all his creation and doesn’t wish for anyone to be separated from Him for eternity. Jonah, on the other hand wanted this portion of God’s creation destroyed.
Jonah chose to be judge and jury of a people he did not understand. He had no power to change them from their sinful ways – so his answer to the situation was to wipe them out. However, God does have the power and once more he knows the heart of every person.
I can identify with being judge and jury. We think we ‘know’ the facts and experiences of a person(s) from outward appearances. In truth we know little. We barely take the time or effort to understand someone different from ourselves. We use ourselves as a measuring stick to goodness, worthiness or godliness. God must laugh a lot at our ignorance and at the same time feel the grief of our prideful behavior.
We need not to judge but to pray; love instead of hate; trust Him instead of accuse and be willing to learn from, lean on and listen to God about all things. When we accomplish this we can say that we have learned to love.
*Nineveh would once again fall from Gods grace. About 200 years after the Jonah account, God had to deal with Nineveh’s sin. (Read Nahum)
Send your questions or share your in-put through the Friends Forum page or the Contact Us page.
|
