When God saw what [the Ninevites] did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster (Jonah 3:10-4:2). Hearing these words from Jonah makes me think of a limbo party: "How low can you go? How low can you go?!" Here he was at his destination after entering a battle with God that ended up putting him in the belly of a fish. Here he was, finally "obeying" God by preaching to the city. And then here he was enraged over the fact that God did something beautiful in his midst by saving the city from the destruction they were about to experience.
God taught me a bit this past weekend just how much I can be like Jonah. We have more in common than I'd like to admit. Now I haven't hopped on a ship to try and get away from God and I don't have any enemies like then Ninevites who were indeed ruthless people, those who would have normally enjoyed skewering someone like Jonah. But I do think that he and I both have an issue with having an unbalanced amount of knowledge and love. Jonah knew a boatload about God...not just about the things that God had done but about His character--His grace, mercy, patience, and love. And I'm betting that on most days He really cherished these things and even praised God for them. But this wasn't the story on the great day of Nineveh's repentance. He was torqued off. Why? Because God was exercising those awesome character traits toward a group of people that were "way worse" than Jonah was. These people did not deserve grace, mercy, patience, and love. These people needed justice; these people needed hell. God had gone too far.
There are way too many times in my life where I want to make sure that God deals out His hugs and spankings to the right people at the right times. There are those that just drive me up the wall that I want to see feel God's disapproval so that they'll know better next time. There are those that I even want to see restored but only after God has shown them how naughty they've been so that I won't have to be annoyed by their foolishness in days to come. Like Jonah, there are days where I'd like to be God. Like Jonah, there are a lot of days that my knowledge about God does not translate well into my knowing God personally, desiring to simply sit humbly before Him, delighting in His ways (whatever they might be). There are days when I am sinful, moaning Jonah in need of God motivation for the day ahead. God help me.
God taught me a bit this past weekend just how much I can be like Jonah. We have more in common than I'd like to admit. Now I haven't hopped on a ship to try and get away from God and I don't have any enemies like then Ninevites who were indeed ruthless people, those who would have normally enjoyed skewering someone like Jonah. But I do think that he and I both have an issue with having an unbalanced amount of knowledge and love. Jonah knew a boatload about God...not just about the things that God had done but about His character--His grace, mercy, patience, and love. And I'm betting that on most days He really cherished these things and even praised God for them. But this wasn't the story on the great day of Nineveh's repentance. He was torqued off. Why? Because God was exercising those awesome character traits toward a group of people that were "way worse" than Jonah was. These people did not deserve grace, mercy, patience, and love. These people needed justice; these people needed hell. God had gone too far.
There are way too many times in my life where I want to make sure that God deals out His hugs and spankings to the right people at the right times. There are those that just drive me up the wall that I want to see feel God's disapproval so that they'll know better next time. There are those that I even want to see restored but only after God has shown them how naughty they've been so that I won't have to be annoyed by their foolishness in days to come. Like Jonah, there are days where I'd like to be God. Like Jonah, there are a lot of days that my knowledge about God does not translate well into my knowing God personally, desiring to simply sit humbly before Him, delighting in His ways (whatever they might be). There are days when I am sinful, moaning Jonah in need of God motivation for the day ahead. God help me.
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