S240P10 – Loaded statements: Jonah
Jon. 4:1-3
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
Jonah seems like quite a spoiled child here. The Lord had just used him to help bring a sinful people to repentance. For those who love the Lord, this is an amazing privilege, but Jonah did not see that. His calling was clear, and that is evidenced by everything God did to make sure to get him to Nineveh. Jonah himself praised the Lord because of his goodness and delivering power. From the belly of the great fish, Jonah prayed to his God before being spit up onto shore and restored to the land of the living. From there he went to the evil city and proclaimed the words God had given him. Then, when the work was done and repentance had come, he became angry to the point of wishing death upon himself.
In the verse to follow this passage, God asks Jonah what right he has to be angry. Souls had just been steered away from sin, and that is a wonderful thing. We might look at Jonah’s words and conclude that he was angry because the people of Nineveh were granted grace and mercy. However, that result was not really the source of his anger. The grace and mercy poured out over that city were the source of his anger, but those are merely part of the character of God. Jonah was angry not at Nineveh but at God for being merciful and gracious. He could not accept that the Lord would be that forgiving toward such evil people. The repentance of Nineveh stirred his real anger, that God’s grace toward him also could be given to those he considered so evil and lowly.
Maybe Jonah thought that he was deserving but the Ninevites were not. Maybe the repentance of Nineveh indicated to him that he was really no different or better than those evil people. Jonah praised God for saving him but became angry when God moved to save others. When we accept that salvation and redemption are available to all, we equalize ourselves with the worst of them. That was a bitter pill for Jonah to swallow. He did not want to face the fact that God’s grace and mercy are that great, or that maybe he needed redemption as much as Nineveh. Father, make us lovers of your grace and mercy, people who desire to see all come to repentance.