A WHALE OF A TALE - JONAH, THE RELUCTANT PROPHET
LESSON FIVE
Jonah’s Anger: The last verse in chapter three says: When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways; he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. The first verse of chapter four starts out, “But Jonah…” and continues “…was greatly displeased and became angry.” What a contrast we have here between God’s compassion and Jonah’s hard and bitter heart! In these opening verses of the last chapter we see a confirmation of the prophet’s problem with unforgiveness as stated right at the beginning of the story. He knew God and he knew that God is not only a righteous judge, but a loving Father and this did not fit into his idea of what should happen to the enemies of Israel. Commentators suggest that the wickedness and brutality of the Assyrians was without equal in those days. It is even possible that Jonah had witnessed their evil deeds in his own town, even his own home. Perhaps he saw family members murdered or a sister raped. He desired vengeance, not mercy. Anger is often not a primary emotion. Underneath it can lay fear, even terror. He may have thought they would murder him for bringing God’s indictment upon them. And Jonah’s reputation as a prophet of Israel was on the line. Now his prediction of their terrible demise was not going to come true and it made him look like a liar, like a false prophet. He was so involved with self-protection and hatred that any concern for the ‘lost’ was lost on him.
Yelling at God: Eugene Peterson, in The Message, puts verses 1-3 as follows: “Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at GOD, “GOD! I knew it – when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness! So GOD, if you won’t kill them, kill me! I’m better off dead! (Once more we see how intimately Jonah knew God’s holy word, for his description of the Lord is like many OT scriptures. See, for instance, Exodus 34:6 and Joel 2:13.) Looking back at chapter 2, we heard the prophet calling out to God for help in distress and promising to serve Him if he is saved from being digested in the belly of the fish. Yet here he is wishing to die, all based on the fact that the God of creation is also a God of compassion and forgiveness. Jonah’s vision for what God is doing goes only as far as it affects him. His life is about him and not about God. As outrageous as that seems to us - that he could be so self-centered and disinterested in the will of God - it is not difficult to find the same fault in ourselves. We, like the reluctant prophet, become angry with God when life is not treating us as we want to be treated. We fuss and fume and demand that things go our own way. “Every time we are mad, we should check ourselves to see if we are upset at the things God hates. Otherwise we may be angry without just cause and give opportunity to the Devil.” (See Ephesians 4:26-27) (Tabletalk, 4/17/07)
God’s Forgiveness and Our Forgiveness: Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins; that we might be forgiven of our transgressions before a holy God. Forgiveness is perhaps the most treasured attribute of our Heavenly Father and the one to which every believer clings. The Christian life needs to be one of ongoing confession and repentance, that we might receive His cleansing. Daily we must come to Him, claiming 1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But that is only one facet in the jewel of God’s truth. We do well to remember how Jesus told us to pray in The Lord’s Prayer. “…and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us” (Matthew 6:12, TLB). God’s forgiveness for our sins in not dependent on whether we forgive others, but on Christ’s work on the cross. However, when we are saved, sanctified and surrendered, realizing what has been done for us, we will forgive others, remembering what a great debt we owe. Forgiveness of others is the natural response of the one who knows he or she has been forgiven. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Colossians 3:13). Stop and consider how God has forgiven you, and whether you hold unforgiveness in your heart against anyone. Someone asked me recently whether they were obligated to grant forgiveness to one who had not apologized and acknowledged their sin against them. There is not an easy answer to this question, but the Bible does provide direction and examples, albeit difficult ones. Consider the following: Jesus asked His Father to forgive His executioners. (Luke 23:34) Stephen made the same request regarding those who were stoning him to death. (Acts 7:60) Peter was looking for an out when he asked the Lord how many times he should forgive. Jesus answered, in effect, the perfect number times the perfect number of times, that is, an infinite number of times! (Matthew 18:21, Luke 17:4) If God in Christ has forgiven us, shouldn’t we to forgive others as well? But, you may wonder, why did God eventually destroy Nineveh and yet tell us that we are to forgive in an unlimited way? An answer is given in Romans 12:19: Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. He is a holy God and cannot tolerate sin. It is His prerogative to enact judgment, not ours. Not only that, but His judgment is more powerful and effective than ours can ever be.
Jonah’s Shelter: Verse 5 says that Jonah found a lookout away from the city and arranged a comfortable place for himself, hoping to see the city blown up in spite of God’s decision to spare them. He was indulging in ‘wishful thinking,’ wanting his own will, not the Lord’s will to be done. Contrast this with Jesus’ heart attitude in the garden: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). God provided a fast growing plant to grow up for a shade and Jonah was very happy about the plant. If you skim over the verses in chapter 4, looking at all the personal pronouns, it becomes evident that Jonah suffered from an inflated ego. God, in His wisdom, used this very fact to teach him a lesson. The next day God sent a worm to kill the plant and followed it with a hot wind to make his life miserable. Have you noticed that God does not get your attention by sending good times, but rather by sending troubling circumstances? It is when we reach the end of our wits, when we are in despair, that we start attending to the Lord. He wants us to know that we need Him and to come to the realization that without Him, life fails to meet the deepest longings of our hearts. What your heart longs for at the deepest level it is to be loved, forgiven and accepted. Only God is able to fulfill that longing perfectly! It is time for us to stop planning our own comfort, to stop arranging life in our own strength, and to make God the First Thing, before anything else, in life.
Pity Who? In Jonah 4:10-11 the ESV Bible translations use the word “pity” where the NIV uses the word “concerned.” (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, 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 4:10-11- ESV) In fact, “pity,” a more correct translation, gives us a better understanding of what God was teaching the prophet. Webster’s Dictionary defines pity as sympathetic sorrow for one suffering, distressed or unhappy. God’s indictment is severe, for He says that Jonah has more compassion and sympathy for a shade tree, one that he didn’t even plant, (and for himself), than he does for a multitude of helpless, childlike people who do not know right from wrong. When life deals us difficult circumstances we have a choice of whether to endure it with patience, believing that God is somehow in it for our eventual good, or to indulge in self help, self pity and a victim mentality, all of which are sins of the flesh.
Reflections on Jonah: When Jonah’s life tumbled down in one disaster after another, he sought death as a way of escape. (Note: Jonah went down to Joppa to catch a ship down to Tarshish. He when down in the hold of the ship to sleep, was thrown down into the Ocean, and then went down into the fish’s belly and felt he was going down to the grave!) He couldn’t bear the pain. Someone I know once said to me, “I see that my sin is greater than all my pain.” He had seen, in a flash of God inspired insight that he was so involved with the distress of his difficulties, with the failures in his relationships, and the pain he was experiencing, that he was constantly crying out to God for relief. God showed him in that moment that his focus was on getting out of pain rather than on his sinful response to it. Truly, God is more interested in our reaction and response to circumstances, in light of what we know about Him, than He is in the circumstances themselves. Jonah wanted to die, to escape the pain of disappointment and failure. He was in despair, the place where we all need to be before we will surrender to a holy God. Regarding the vine, false contentment (contentment in the wrong things) is a huge obstacle to spiritual growth. Blessings are more dangerous than problems because they promote demandingness and expectations. Wanting and going after blessings is the broad road, not the narrow road that leads to life. It invites us and promises relief, but blessings do not lead to growth. God loves me enough to take away anything that gives me an excuse to love success and personal comfort more than Him! The plant was provided by God to show Jonah his love for 2nd things – his pathetic insistence on ‘feeling good.’
A Curious Ending: The little book of Jonah ends abruptly and God gets the last word. It may seem that there should be more to the story, at least an indication that Jonah repented and was fully restored as a prophet of the Lord. Some commentators are not confident that Jonah wrote this down himself, since most of it is in the third person. We get one clue in the second chapter, however, when Jonah is praying to God, and starts by saying, “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. Here he is speaking in the first person, so I agree with most scholars who say he did write it; even through it seems to be a story told at his expense. He exposes himself for our benefit. This is no fairy tale, but a course in Christian living, in obedience and in serving a wise and forgiving God.
Worship and Thank God: Spend some time worshiping and praising God for this little story and what it has meant to you personally. Ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of the lessons you have learned and for strength to persevere in your walk on the narrow road.
A WHALE OF A TALE – LESSON FIVE
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND PERSONAL APPLICATION
1. Look back at lesson 1 and the notes in lesson 2 and consider the following:
A. What has God called me to do?
B. Are there some areas where I have been “asleep in the boat”? When and where in my life do I flee toTarshish, trying to cover over the hard challenges (storms) in life with what promises comfort and freedom from guilt?
C. What do I do when there is trouble in my world? Where do I turn? What sins am I refusing to acknowledge, confess and turn from?
D. How have I experienced grace God in my life? (Grace is getting what I do not deserve.)
2. Look back at lesson 2 and the notes in lesson 3 and consider the following:
A. What verses in God’s word have I memorized that come to mind when I am in need of comfort and strength? List some of them below.
B In my estimation, have I chosen the broad road (the easy and comfortable road) or the narrow road (path of obedience even when it is hard)?
C. Do I pray like Jonah in the belly of the fish? “Get me out of here! I am weak, so come to my rescue.” Or do I pray in the manner of David in psalm 51? “My sin is ever before me. I have sinned against the God of Heaven. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
3. Look back at lesson 3 and the notes in lesson 4 and consider the following:
A. Do I know God as a God of second chances? How often has He given me another chance?
B. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, how do I rate myself on obedience to God?
C. What have I learned about God’s judgment and mercy from the story of Jonah? How have I seen this in my own life?
4. Look back at lesson 4 and the notes in lesson 5 and consider the following:
A. Who or what is my shade tree? What could be taken away from me that would cause me to say, “I would rather die.”? Do I have any right to be angry at God?
B. Did God’s saving him from death in the ocean change Jonah’s character? How has my character been changed by God’s saving grace?
C. When does God’s insistence that I value His character, His commands, and His glory above all else drive me to despair? In the scheme of things, is He really the First Thing in my life? What is my ruling passion?
D. What changes in attitudes or actions can I make in response to God’s word as given to me in the study of Jonah?
5. Following is my prayer to God, thanking Him for the book of Jonah, and asking Him to strengthen me to be more like my Savior, Jesus Christ.