A Brief Look at Jonah - Part 2

“When God saw what (the Ninevites) had done & how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind & did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.” – Jonah 3:10 _NLT

            Have you ever been angry with the Lord? Well Jonah was very angry when he saw the immoral, evil people of Nineveh led by their King repenting before the Lord God in sackcloth and ashes. This redemptive event upset Jonah greatly. In chapter 4 Jonah complains to God that he knew he was filled with unfailing love, mercy and compassion. Jonah knew God wishes for all to become saved from his wrath. Since he saw with his own eyes the miracle of redemption from all 120,000 of the inhabitants of this evil city in Assyria, he told his God he would rather be dead. 

            This is a wonderful example not only of God’s compassion and mercy on display to a non-Jewish people in the Ninevites, but also the patience and mercy he shows his Prophet Jonah. Jonah messed up, relented, fulfilled God’s mission but was angry at having to do it. God asks Jonah if he has the right to be angry. Jonah didn’t reply but rather made himself a shelter by the edge of the city and waited to see what would happen. The Lord caused a leafy plant to grow there with the purpose of providing shade from the hot sun. Jonah was grateful for the shade. Then God sent a worm to eat thru the stem of the plant, thus causing it to whither. The sun grew hot and God arranged a strong east wind to blow. It must have seemed to Jonah as if he were in an oven.  He grew faint and wanted to die. God asked Jonah if he was right to be angry because the plant died. Jonah said ‘yes’, then the Lord wanted to know what the difference was between the people of Nineveh and the plant. Jonah did nothing to put the plant there, God did. It came quickly and then died just as quickly. The book ends with God asking the question that Nineveh had 120,000 spiritually dead people. Shouldn’t Jonah feel sorrow for such a great city?

            The message we should take from this is that we are to show mercy toward the unsaved and pray for their salvation, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done to you or to society in general. All have a right to taste God’s mercy, no matter what we may think.  The Jews didn’t want to share their God with anyone outside of their own country, even though that was the mission God had placed upon them from the beginning. The one thing they had forgotten and we also may have lost sight of is that no one deserves to be forgiven. I don’t, you don’t and the Israelites back in Bible times didn’t either. It is by God’s incredible grace and mercy, with a strong dose of patience, that we are allowed to live and not be destroyed. God judges, we are his conduits of mercy. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing! rlkeller

Resource: The Life Application Study Bible