Can you imagine a situation where you would rather die than see your enemy forgiven? You’d agree with me that thinking like this is quite radical, isn’t it?
Jonah, who was filled with gratitude following his experience with the big fish, turned gratitude into anger toward God.
He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country?
That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning, for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment.
And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4.2-3).
Jonah evidenced two problems that we do well to avoid. First, he believed that he knew better than God how to deal with Nineveh.
The better course of action is to remain humble and remember that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours.
The prophet knew the nature of God’s character that he revealed to Moses as being a “gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment.”
He was quite willing to accept God’s mercy for himself but refused to extend it to his enemies.
The contradiction in Jonah’s reasoning is fairly evident, but when our attitudes and actions are similar to his we can often overlook our behavior.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus challenges us to not act like Jonah. He said, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
“But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6.14-15).
Examine Your Heart
God, who is gracious and merciful, confronted Jonah’s anger and unwillingness to understand God’s mercy toward his enemies.
And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (Jonah 4.4).
God doesn’t want us to continue to rehearse our anger toward those who have hurt us. This not only damages our relationships with the individuals who have caused us harm, but it also harms us.
We can be thankful that God doesn’t give up on us as quickly as we do on other people. God conquered Jonah’s hate with His abundant love.
The prophet was very happy when God provided a bush to give him shade from the heat. God used a bush-eating worm and a hot wind to provide an object lesson for Jonah.
One of the main messages of the Book of Jonah is teaching us how not to be like him.
His inner thoughts were a roller coaster of emotions. At one time, he was filled with gratitude, then he turned to resentment, and when the bush dies and he is hot, he declares, “It is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4.8).
The lesson for us is: Let’s not be like Jonah.
Adjust Your Attitudes and Actions
Jonah’s story reveals an important aspect of God’s character. Not only can we talk to God in prayer, but He talks to us as well.
Frequently, God speaks to His children to adjust their attitudes and actions so that they conform to His character and activity in the world.
The dialogue God had with Jonah is similar to the way He will communicate with us.
But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?”
And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.”
Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night.
“And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also many animals? (Jonah 4.9-11).
God’s ultimate goal for humans is that we conform to His character. This is a magnificent gift to us.
Paul outlined the essential aspects of God’s nature: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5.22-23).
Why would anyone knowingly reject these qualities of life and love? Unfortunately, we unknowingly do just that.
When God enters the picture, like He did with Jonah, He reveals how distant we are from what He is like. He speaks to us and provides an opportunity to adjust our attitudes and actions to be more like Him.
Consistent prayer and Bible reading is the customary way to speak and hear from God. God will make Bible passages stand out as His way of revealing His guidance to us.
We give ourselves a significant gift to engage in the process of communicating with God, so He can have freedom to better conform us to His nature.
YouTube Videos
Rudy Ross and I discuss this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
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