November 21st | Jonah 4

When my son was four and my daughter was three, there was this thing that happened quite frequently at our house called “A Temper Tantrum.” It usually went something like this… I hear screaming and yelling in a room. I rush in, and the kids are both holding a toy, trying to wrestle it away from each other. I say, “Who had it first?” and then both will say, “Me!” Or if one has it first, the other will say, “But it’s my toy!” In that case, I will say, I know it is your toy, but you need to share. This is usually met with, “That’s not fair! It’s mine!” To which I typically reply, “No, actually, I bought the toy, and if you keep crying about it, I’ll just throw it away.” This leads to huffing and puffing and timeouts all around. 

Temper tantrums are to be expected for toddlers, but here in Jonah four, we have Jonah, God’s prophet, throwing a temper tantrum because things didn’t go his way. This passage reveals God’s unchanging nature of mercy and love for all people, and our quick temper and forgetfulness of God’s own mercy in our own lives. 

A God Who Never Changes (1-4)

Now we can look at Jonah as someone throwing a temper tantrum, but he was actually very angry, and this anger needed to be dealt with. Maybe you have anger issues toward parents or friends. Perhaps you are angry at God for the way things have turned out in your life. Jonah had to deal with his anger, and we see here a God who listens but lovingly and graciously tries to help him by changing his perspective. 

Sometimes it is good to have righteous anger. Jesus had righteous anger when he went into the temple and overturned the tables. It is good to have righteous anger when a wrong needs to be made right. But Jonah’s anger wasn’t righteous, it was unrighteous. He wanted his enemies of Nineveh to perish and be punished by God. Jonah is frustrated because God allowed them to be spared. He is so frustrated that he wants to die!

He even says I know you are a God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Jonah admits God’s nature, and he is frustrated by God’s mercy. You see, God has never changed. He will execute judgment and punishment on the unrepentant, but he is patient and longs for people to repent so he can show them mercy. This makes Jonah angry because these people were horrible people who had committed terrible sins. If you remember, they were the Israelites' enemies. Jonah would have grown up in fear of the awful people of Nineveh and would have heard of all of their horrendous, violent acts upon innocent people. This is why he didn’t want to go in the first place, because he KNEW God would show them mercy if they repented! 

How much are we like Jonah? He had been shown mercy because he had been saved from the belly of the whale, but he didn’t want to extend that mercy to others. But we do this all the time. You aren’t part of my group, so I’m not going to go out of my way to help you. You have hurt me before, so you don’t get a second chance. We cry out to God for mercy when we make mistakes, but we hold that same mercy close to us, and we are stingy with who we give it to. Who are you withholding mercy from today?

God’s Sovereign Hand Over Us (5-8)

So God helps Jonah see how backward his thinking is by teaching him a lesson. Jonah climbs up on the hill to watch the destruction of Nineveh. Maybe, he hopes, that God won’t forgive them and he will bring His righteous judgment on them. While he sits there in the scorching heat, God causes a plant to grow over his head. Jonah is “exceedingly happy” with this plant. In one day, this giant plant has grown up for Jonah. What a miracle! 

The next day, God appointed a worm to attack the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God then appointed a scorching wind to come upon Jonah. So now he is exposed, in the heat, and in extreme discomfort. He is in such distress that he asks to die. God has orchestrated this entire event to show Jonah that he is over all things and that anything good that Jonah receives in this life is from God. 

You see, we are all sinners, and what are the wages/payment for our sin (Rom 3:23)? Death. We don’t deserve breath. We don’t deserve to be brought up in families that can provide for our needs. We don’t deserve cars, money, or comforts in this life. These are all blessings from God! When we were in India, we would see families who quite literally had almost nothing. I would see two-year-olds walking around in the slums completely naked, playing in the trash. And I would think that could have been me or my kid. But God, in His mercy, allowed me to be born into a family in America with shelter, clothes, and everything I needed. Not only that, but he was gracious enough to allow me to be born into a Christian home where we had Bibles and I could hear this incredible message of salvation and believe in Him! 

James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” God is not out here hurting some people and helping some people. Jonah felt there was injustice because these terrible people received the love of God that should be reserved for HIS people. In reality, we all deserve punishment and judgment, but God grants us mercy. Any blessing in this life can be credited to a gracious, sovereign, and merciful God.

God’s Compassion is for Everyone (9-11)

Jonah here is angry with God that his plant has died, and God asks him, “Really?” God tells Jonah that he did nothing to make the plant. He didn’t water it, watch it grow, or work for it in any way. It literally popped up in one day, and then it withered. Jonah is expending all this anger at this plant he has benefited from for a day. Contrast Jonah’s concern for this worthless plant with God’s concern for the 120,000 souls bound for judgment. 

How many of us are more upset about a phone screen being cracked than our lost friend? How many of us are more upset that someone has what we want than we are that people all around us are dying and going to hell? How preoccupied with ourselves and our trivial things are we that we miss entirely the people all around us that need Jesus! 

Jonah was so consumed with himself that he couldn’t see the lostness around him. Not only that, but he didn’t feel these terrible people should receive God’s mercy. But we see from this passage that God’s mercy is not restricted to “good” people; it is for everyone. Would you seek to show God’s grace, love, and mercy to someone today?