Jonah (Part 6)
So we’re finishing up in Jonah today…
I don’t know a single preacher or evangelist that wouldn’t be overjoyed if an entire city of 120,000 repented when they preached, but not Jonah. Today in chapter 4 we’ll see that he is actually angry that God showed mercy, and then he gets angry again when a plant dries up and no longer shades him. Instead of me just talking about it, let’s go ahead and go to the text. (Read Text)
“But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5 Jonah had gone 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. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
First of all I want you to notice that the writer of Jonah makes it clear to us that everything that happened in this story happened because it was appointed by the Lord. God appointed Jonah to preach. God appointed the storm, God appointed the fish, God appointed the message for the Ninevites. God appointed the plant, God appointed the scorching heat and wind. He even appointed a worm to chew on the plant and make it wither.
I think He might be trying to tell us that God is sovereign and in control. What do you think? And also, it’s better to work WITH the One who is sovereign and in control rather than to try and go AGAINST Him? How good are you at that?
Jonah also was appointed as the agent of God to bring God’s mercy and grace to the people of Nineveh but he wasn’t very happy about doing that. Even though he somewhat reluctantly obeyed Him, God shows Jonah mercy and grace by providing shade, but I personally don’t think he deserve that plant because of his attitude.
When God removes the plant, Jonah is angry… In fact our verse 9 tells us that he was angry enough to die. And the Lord then says to him, 10 … “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
So what’s the point here, and the lesson we need to learn from this?
Well I think it comes here in God’s response to Jonah. God is pointing out to Jonah that instead of being bitter and angry and sulking, he should rejoice and be happy that God cares enough for people to provide a way to save them from themselves and prevent their destruction.
This plant that God provided to shade Jonah was an act of grace, something He did for an undeserving man who had an attitude problem. He was trying to show Jonah that those people in that city also needed His grace as well but
Jonah was more concerned about that silly plant than all those men, women, and children, not to mention the all those animals.
So God causes this plant to spring up and give shade to Jonah, and our text tells us that Jonah was glad. He was happy with this gift from God… But he was unhappy with God’s grace toward the Ninevites. Jonah was ok as long as God showed him favor and grace, but it was quite another thing for God to show grace to others. I wonder how often we do the same thing.
That guy you think is a jerk at work gets a promotion and you don’t… when God shows someone else bit of grace and they get the promotion instead of you do you get angry or celebrate that God showed such an undeserving sinner grace? Or maybe there’s someone you know who seems to have it all… you know… big house, nice vehicles, money never seems to be a problem for them. How do you feel about that? Angry? Jealous? Envious?
I think this little book is showing us that we should not be angry with God because He has blessed others. Instead we should look at it as an opportunity to praise God for His grace and love and ability to show mercy to all of us sinners..
We are all blessed and are recipients of His grace, in so many ways, including material blessings. But what happens when God removes those blessings?
When things are going good it’s easy to praise Him. But what happens when all of a sudden some unexpected bills come due, or sickness strikes us or someone else in our family. What happens when you lose your job, or your barn or house burns to the ground? What happens then? How do you act towards God then?
You see; Jonah’s problem is often times our problem, a problem that we have; we get upset, with the way God distributes His blessings.
Somewhere along the way, Jonah probably thought that he merited or deserved God’s favor and blessings, even His calling. But none of us can merit, earn or buy God’s favor or grace. The word grace means, unmerited favor.
Like that plant that shaded Jonah, many of God’s blessings and acts of grace come to us freely, as a gift of love from God. So many things come without us laboring to earn them, produce them, or make them grow. We may get to enjoy those blessing for a while, but sometimes they disappear
And when that happen we should be more like Job than Jonah. Remember Job; all the bad things happened to him, all that he lost? But he goes on to say in Job 1:21
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised, What an amazing attitude!
In chapter 2 Job’s wife tells him that he should curse and die for all that has happened, but he goes on to say “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” The only thing that Jonah seemed to care about his own comfort and getting his own way.
If anything, this little book should cause to recognize that it’s not all about Jonah, or you, or me. It’s not all about us. We need to be looking at things from God’s eternal perspective. He is God, not us.
God provides us with all kinds of things and many times we start caring more about the things and the stuff than we do about the One who provided it. Even the eternal destiny of those who are around us seem less important than our own comfort. We can become just like Jonah… we can care more about our little shaded spot and our own comfort than we care about God’s will and those people around us!
Jonah found happiness and comfort in the thing God provided, rather than in the One who provided it. So God took that thing away to show him where his affections lay. And the result …Jonah got angry and he just wanted to die.
What’s his problem? He’s selfish, self-centered, arrogant, and he’s an idolater who worships and adores himself more than he worships and adores God.
Do you love yourself and what you have, or what you do more than you love God? I don’t care much about what you say you do, rather, what do you actions show or reveal?
Jonah is mad because God didn’t destroy all those people, and he’s mad because his plant died and he had to sit in the sun. He wanted to die because things didn’t go his way. Do you ever feel like that? We have our pity party and stomp our feet because things don’t go the ways we want or think.
That’s when God rebuked Jonah. God gets the last word in, and that’s where the book ends. ‘Jonah wake up and think about what you are saying and thinking!’
What about us, what can you and I take home from this? The reality is if we’re honest; we probably don’t love and care for others the way we should. Nor do we understand God’s amazing grace the way we should.
God used Jonah, not because He couldn’t find a better prophet.
I believe He used Jonah because as God converts the sailors on the ship, and as God converts the people of Nineveh, He was working on Jonah as well. God took Jonah on journey through his own self-righteousness, rebellion, and anger, and through his racist prejudice, all for the purpose of making Jonah the man of God he was meant to be!
This is just as much a story of God’s mercy and grace to Jonah as it is a story of God’s mercy and grace to the people of Nineveh.
You may ask, ”Did Jonah repent?” And my answer is, “Who wrote the book?” I personally believe that the fact that we have the Book of Jonah, shows us that Jonah repented. I believe He wrote it because God did humbled him, and knowing that this book would cast him in a bad light, he really didn’t care how it made him look.
I believe his desire in doing so was to glorify God and show God in all of His glory, and show His grace in all its awesomeness and how even religious people can have a bad attitude.
The book is a revelation to God’s people of His sovereign power and loving concern for all His creatures, including sinners and those cows (4:11).
So I would like to suggest that you should learn to be willing to act when God calls you to do something…even if you find His calling difficult, perhaps even distasteful.
Like I stated in our last lesson, “Sometime it’s just plain easier and less troublesome if we do what God prompts us to do in the first place. Jonah needed to look at things from God’s eternal perspective and we need to do the same Simply put, we save ourself a lot of trouble and grief if he simply obey God from the start rather than choosing to resist Him.
Just as God helped Jonah with his attitude problem, He may also take some strong measures to deal with your attitude.
We also need to remember that God loves everyone of us… even those who have messed up. We have to be careful about condemning another. Rather we should turn them over to God and pray that He will intervene and work on that person’s heart.
And if you don’t have something you think you should have or something you want, there is probably a pretty good reason why God has not given it to you. We have to believe and trust that He will work all things out for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) …. If you don’t believe or recognize this truth, and trust God, you are just going to be just plain miserable.
Based on a sermon by Ken McKinley