Jump Start # 1178

Jonah 4:9 “Then God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘I have good reason to be angry, even to death.’”

 Poor Jonah. He was mixed-up about many things. The pouting preacher had a attitude. The fascinating thing about the book of Jonah is that the message is more about the prophet than the people. Jonah didn’t want to do what God told him. Jonah was the only preacher who hoped that no one listened to his message. He wanted to fail, but God wouldn’t let him.

This book is essential in the big picture of the Bible because we can easily think that God’s servants always had it together. Not Jonah. God’s messengers always had stealer attitudes. Not Jonah. Sometimes the preacher needs to listen to his own sermon. Jonah certainly did.

Our verse comes at the end of the book. What a journey it has been for poor Jonah. He’s not happy at all throughout this book. He doesn’t want to go to Nineveh, so he hops on a boat going the other direction. Satan always has a boat waiting for us if we want to disobey God. Jonah must have thought that it was too far and too impractical for him to go now. Surely God will send someone else. Nope. Had that happened, many would have found their own ships to flee to. God wasn’t going to allow that. You know what happened. A great storm. A great fish. Jonah was tossed overboard and swallowed alive by a fish that God had prepared. God caused the storm. God caused the fish. God was directly involved in what was happening. The pagan fishermen in the boat were praying while Jonah was sleeping. How sad. Some times those of the world are doing what we ought to be doing.

The fish spit Jonah out on the shore. He goes and preaches to Nineveh. They repent. He pouts. Nineveh is the capitol of the Assyrian nation. In a few years, God will send the Assyrians to punish Israel. But at this moment, they are remorseful for their sins. God forgives. God forgives and gives them a second chance. This shows that during the Old Testament period God was not excluding all people except Israel. He sent a prophet to them. He offered them grace. God is like that.

Jonah gets angry many times. Twice in the fourth chapter he is angry. At the beginning of the chapter he is angry because Nineveh repented. He knew God would forgive them. He didn’t want that. He’d rather preach hell than Heaven. Some are like that. Some don’t want certain ones in God’s favor. Jonah was prejudice and pitiful.

At the end of the chapter, where our verse is found, Jonah is sitting on a hill. It’s hot. The sun beats down upon him. God causes a plant to grow to shade Jonah. Then the plant died. Jonah is angry again. This is where our verse is taken from.

God’s question: Do you have good reason to be angry? There are times we are angry, but we do not have a good reason for that. We are angry because it’s raining outside and we wanted sunshine. The farmer needed the rain. We are angry because it’s too hot. We are angry because of road construction. We are angry because of the long line at the check out.  Good reason to be angry? No, not really.

That’s the point God is driving at with Jonah. You really do not have a good reason to be angry. You are angry because you are hot and the sun is beating down on you. Nothing is said in the text that God expected Jonah to sit on the hill all day. He chose that. If it’s too hot, get out of the sun. He was angry over a plant that he had nothing to do except enjoy. God gave him a brief blessing and when it went away, he was upset. Jonah had compassion over the plant. He cared about the plant. The plant brought him pleasure. God was teaching Jonah a lesson. God is teaching us a lesson. What comfort Jonah got from that plant, God was getting from the people of Nineveh. God had compassion over Nineveh—a nation that He made and a people He had created.

There are two amazing thoughts from all this:

1. We stand with Jonah when we care about things more than people. Jonah cared about a plant more than the people of Nineveh. Plants come and go. Plants do not have souls. Plants are seasonal. People have everlasting souls, made in the image of God. We can have more compassion for our cars, our houses, our stuff than people. We get more upset over a scratch on our car than a scratch in one’s character. We are more interested in things than people. That’s Jonah. That’s a problem. Some times churches get more excited about new carpet in the building than they do reaching new people. Some times more money is poured in the upkeep of a building than in searching and saving the lost. Shades of Jonah!

2. Like Jonah, sometimes we don’t get the message we are supposed to be living and sharing with others. Jonah would love to have delivered a death message to Nineveh. Had the message been burn, burn, burn—Jonah would have skipped the boat and smiled all the way to Nineveh. But that wasn’t the message. The message was salvation. That is God’s message. Sometimes we don’t get it. Sometimes we act like Jonah and the prodigal’s older brother. Sometimes we don’t feel like forgiving when God already has. Sometimes we want to skip the celebration and stay out. Interesting both Jonah and the elder brother in Luke 15 were angry. Instead of singing with the angels, they were spitting mad. God’s people can be that way. Instead of rejoicing that someone has come back to the Lord, the whispers begin. What did he do this time? Not again? How long will it last this time? Oh, the talking. Oh, the attitudes. Oh, the Jonah in all of us.

It’s a lot easier to preach the lesson that it is to live the lesson. It’s easy to talk the game. Living it is different.

Give all of this some thought. Do you see a bit of Jonah in you? Work on being what God wants.

Roger