This is a good song to start with. God is the God of the nations. He always has been. Jonah gives us an up close and personal view of this. When God told Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him, The book of Jonah is showing us what some of that will look like. Opening up salvation to gentile sailors and evil Ninevites, how scandalous? To God's chosen people this would seem so strange.
Well after an amazing revival last week, we now see Jonah at a low point. He would rather die than watch these people repent. Read all of Jonah 4 here.
It really opens up some hard questions for us to examine of ourselves.
In verse one what emotion was Jonah feeling?
In revival we usually rejoice! But Jonah was not in the rejoicing mood. Jonah is not just experiencing your average everyday kind of angry either. In the Hebrew this verse is expressed as this being a great calamity. Jonah is burning with anger. He is literally hot. He is not a happy camper seeing this repentance. Though ironically he was just forgiven for his sin and God saved Him by His great mercy. He received it but did not accept it for others. Before you judge Jonah though don't we often do the same?
Jesus called it the log in the eye issue. Matthew 7:5 states, " Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye." Often we have this glaring issue that we cannot see though it is blinding us, yet we see the small thing in someone else. We want to judge them but not deal with our won stuff. How have you seen yourself doing this?
Now in verse two we see why Jonah ran in the first place. Jonah knew something about God that we and the world need to know. Verse two is stated like this, "So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people."
Jonah knows God is:
- merciful - or gracious is used only of God and used 13 times in the Old Testament. (The NIV Application Commentary)
- compassionate - The primary meaning of this word is "to be soft like a womb" (NIV Application Commentary) I love that picture of God.
- slow to anger - The Hebrew expression means "forbear, continue long, be patient, postpone anger, tarry long" (NIV Application Commentary).
- filled with unfailing love - This is the more intense word for love in Hebrew (hesed) and is best understood as God's unrelenting love, which is God's covenant commitment to his people. With this unrelenting love he binds himself to His promises to them (NIV Application Commentary).
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| Picture taken from http://biblelexicon.org/jonah/4-1.htm |
Then in verse three Jonah states, "Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen." Jonah cannot stand it that these enemies will be forgiven and not judged. He would rather just die. He is so angry. So unforgiving. He is being the opposite of God right now. But I must admit I have been here as well. We must remember God forgave us, no one is beyond forgiveness. We are hypocrites to expect any different. We cannot accept forgiveness for ourselves and not freely extend it to others. It does not work that way. I am sure it is easier for us to see this since we are on the other side of the cross. We have been grafted into the family of God. I am so thankful for that. I am so thankful for God's pursuit.
So God intervenes here. He asks Jonah a simple question, "Is it right for you to be angry about this?"
We need to examine our own hearts here. When we are angry, we need to ask ourselves this same question. Is it right for us to be angry about this? God's love and grace is scandalous! We have no right to say who can or cannot be forgiven by God. Now this phrase can be translated more like this, "Is it causing good that you burn with anger?" (NIV Application Commentary).
God tells us in Ephesians 5:26-27, “In your anger do not sin” Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."and Hebrews 12:15 states, "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled."
How can you see either of these things causing trouble? Give practical examples.
Jonah ignores God. He does not answer the questions and moves out to a place where he can observe the city. He was waiting to see what happened. God uses this time to teach Jonah a lesson using His creation.
God first provides a nice vine to shade Jonah. It made him comfortable and happy. God also though in His wisdom appointed a worm to chew and cause this plant to die. Also He made an uncomfortable hot (like Jonah's previous anger) wind blow making Jonah faint. Jonah wished to die again. Clearly he is only happy in his circumstances that work out the way he thinks is right. However, God uses these things to bring Jonah back to Him and back to conversing with Him again.
I love how God continues to pursue us. Psalm 119:71 states, "My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees." This is what we see happening with Jonah.
Have you seen this happen in your own life? Explain.
God then says, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”
I like this question God asked. It is pretty similar to questions God asked Job after he questioned God. Job was humbled by this. You can read that in Job 38-42. It just makes you sit back and stand in awe of God.
We as humans cannot fathom God's ways. But we can trust them. He is amazing and His love for us is great. In this alone we need to trust Him. God does not have to answer our questions. He is good and unpredictable. He is sovereign and we cannot understand. Just as a parent may give instructions to a child, they cannot always understand them but need to obey. We are like this with God. We must trust. His goodness and loving kindness need to be enough.
But Jonah answered in a poor way. In Jonah 4: 9 he says, “Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”
Oh poor Jonah. He is not looking outward at God and His amazing character instead his eyes are focused on himself. Having a pity party is never a good way to behave. It only leads to bad things. This is what Jonah is doing. But God is still not giving up on His servant.
This is how God replies,"Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” (Jonah 4:10-11).
God really cares for all He made. Psalm 104:31 states, "May the glory of the Lord continue forever! The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!" God ends this discourse and book of Scripture with a question. We do not know how Jonah replies. The point is however, how will we reply? Will we continue to withhold mercy from our enemies or extend it?
It gives us a time to just be amazed by God. He saw that these people He made are in spiritual darkness, they are blinded and He takes pity on them. He goes to them and gives them a chance to repent. He wants Jonah to realize that he was feeling sorry for a destroyed plant that he had nothing to do with, so how much more should God be concerned about a people He created.
I liked this statement, "God does not suggest that justice should not or will not eventually be done. He simply argues that he would rather forgive and take the risks of letting evil persist in the world. This is a difficult dilemma for people of faith" (The NIV Application Commentary). Later you will see that Ninevah is destroyed. I am not sure how long repentance lasted but the book of Nahum makes it clear they are no longer people who are repentant.
Application
1- Give an example of a time you gladly received mercy but became angry when it was extended to someone else.
2- Are you struggling to forgive someone? Talk about it here. Don't use names but let's walk through it in community and walk through complete healing. Possibly even reconciliation
3- Above I used Scriptures Ephesians 5:26-27 and Hebrews 12:15.
How can you see either of these things causing trouble? Give practical examples.
4- Has God used creation to teach you a lesson about His character?
5- I love how God continues to pursue us. Psalm 119:71 states, "My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees." This is what we see happening with Jonah.
Have you seen this happen in your own life? Explain.
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