Jonah went from running from God to trying to run God.
By the way, if you preached to a city, and every person in the city repented of their sin, how would you respond? Most likely, not the way Jonah does. But that depends on where your heart is at.
Look how Jonah responded when Nineveh repented.
I) The Response of Jonah to God’s Grace (Jonah 4:1)
We should not be too hard on Jonah here. We all sometimes wonder why God doesn’t judge a certain person or group of people. We see the wicked seemingly getting away with evil and we wish God would just rain down on them.
Sometimes we might pray as Jonah prays here in verse 2-3.
II) The Honest Confession of Jonah (Jonah 4:2-3)
Here, at last, we see why Jonah would rather flee to Tarshish than preach fire and brimstone to Nineveh, and why he would rather die than obey God. The answer to both is that he knew God was gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
Jonah, in his anger, is attacking God’s actions saying that the people of Nineveh do not deserve God’s grace.
What Jonah forgets, and we do as well, is that no one deserves God’s grace.
III) The Probing Questions of God (Jonah 4:4-9)
A) A Question of Misdirected Perspective “Is it right for you to be angry?” Jonah 4:4
This is a question of perspective. Jonah looked at the city of Nineveh and got angry that God had shown them mercy. God basically says, “Listen, Jonah, we’re looking at the same situation, yet we have two different perspectives. Which one do you think is reasonable?” Which leads to…
B) A Question of Mistaken Priority “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah 4:9
The second question, in response to Jonah’s plea to die, exposes a mistaken priority.
Jonah declares, "Yes, I have a right." But did he have a right? He did nothing to produce the plant. He did nothing to grow the plant. He did nothing to save the plant. It wasn't Jonah's plant; it was God's plant.
C) A Question of Misguided Passion “should not I spare Nineveh?” Jonah 4:11
God’s third question focuses on Jonah’s misguided passion. He had become concerned about the perishable but not the permanent.
God compares 120,000 souls to one plant asking where should one’s passion be?
IV) The Lasting Lesson of Jonah (Jonah 4:10-11)
And with that, the story ends. Why does the story end this way. It seems like the story should have ended after chapter 3. God has mercy on Nineveh. The End.
But that wasn’t the end. Why not? Because the story is not about Nineveh.
What is this story about? The story is about you and me. The text leaves us hanging because it asks the question, “What about you? What does God see in your heart?”
In Closing:
Here is the question the book asks of you: What are you concerned about? What is God concerned about? Do these match?
The question is not “Where can God use me the most, but where can God change me the most?”
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