Jonah 4 - Bitter Reward

by Lance Ponder⁽⁹⁰⁾
http://fkiprofessor.xanga.com

Jonah’s Bitterness

Jonah 4:1-4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah understood God’s nature. He agreed to do what God commanded him to do. Still, Jonah clearly felt God’s justice should have been wrath instead of mercy. As a faithful Hebrew, Jonah took the Assyrian’s evil toward Israel very personally. Jonah lacked the ability to grasp God’s mercy toward those whom he hated so much. Have you ever been deeply hurt by someone only to see them given undeserved mercy instead of what you consider justice? Most of us have. We wonder why someone would hurt us. We wonder deep down if we deserved it. We may carry the pain and the guilt around with us for years. When we do this we create our own new religion of victimhood. It is unhealthy for us mentally, physically, and perhaps most of all spiritually. When we cannot forgive, we rob our Lord of the greatest gift he wishes to bestow on us – our own forgiveness. Jonah understood God’s character. He benefited from God’s forgiveness when he was spared from the sea. In spite of all this he still felt God’s mercy toward the evil Ninevites was unjust. Jonah was having a lot more trouble forgiving than God was. He was so upset he spouted off that he would rather be dead than see God’s mercy extended to Nineveh. Fortunately God was not finished dealing with Jonah’s heart.

Wait and See

Jon 4:5-11 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 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. 11 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?” Jonah remained in a bad mood. He set up a tent east of town to watch what he hoped would be the fireworks display of God’s promised wrath. When God’s wrath never came, Jonah’s campout turned out to be a pathetic pity party. In spite of all this the Lord used a simple vine plant to teach Jonah his final lessons. The plant sprang up, gave Jonah nice shade, then the next day was gone. When Jonah whined about the lost plant, God asked if it was good to be sorry about the lost plant. God used this as a teachable moment to explain to Jonah the similarity between the plant and the people of Nineveh.

Majoring in the Minors

Jonah Chapters:

1 2 3 4

Article submitted Monday, May 24, 2010 & read 15 times.

Leave your comments through World Wide Bible Studies:

No comments yet.
We appreciate your comments!

0-3-0-0-5-ADSO

Most Recent