God Motivation and the Plant Appointment

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant (Jonah 4:5-6).  From exceedingly angry to exceedingly glad to exceedingly...well, that's for next time, but I'm guessing you've got a good idea of what comes next.  The whole deal is really pretty sick, but it turns my stomach in large part because I can see my own tendencies mirrored here.  What first made Jonah hot with anger?  God spared a city of 120,000 people that would have met their demise apart from repentance.  And now why is he suddenly giddy?  God made a nice shade plant for him outside the city of Nineveh.  I'm like that sometimes.  No, I don't have a city I'd like to see zapped by God, but I do like the idea sometimes of bad people "getting what's coming to them" and don't like it when they instead seem to enjoy extra grace from God.  Actually, it can kinda make me mad.  "Why don't You act in a way that makes people take you more seriously, God?!"  I shudder a bit even as I type that--such an attitude shows that I don't get the concept of grace at all in those moments.  And then what happens sometimes later in the day?  God sends a nice little bonus of some kind...maybe like the bit of rain that we got last night after a dry spell.  "Oooo, that's nice," I say.  There's nothing wrong with enjoying the rain; it's just that earlier in the day there was a certain group of shady businessmen I heard about that I wouldn't have minded seeing thrown off a cliff--shady businessmen who won their stinking case in court against "the good guys" who might have otherwise been a blessing to my family and many others.  Jonah may as well be my middle name.

What's the solution?  Is it OK to desire justice?  Sure.  Is it OK to rejoice in the little, refreshing mercies of God?  Absolutely.  But what we often need a better understanding of is where justice is ultimately met: on the cross of Christ.  Instead of wanting to see the Smiter smite our enemies, we should pray that they would turn to see what Jesus has done on the cross in already taking punishment for sin.  If God wants to use a legal system as part of that process, great.  Putting a stop to harmful and evil practices is a good thing in and of itself--God appoints people (just like He appoints fish and plants) to keep such order here on earth.  But the bigger issue at hand is that souls without a Savior are condemned souls; we should want to see that turned around in each lost person.

It's a downright sick thing to hope against grace in people's lives and then grin like a schmuck over a sweet piece of candy.  The God motivated spirit says, "I want the world to know the joy of glorifying God through exalting Christ as saving King."  So let the next "plant" that He appoints to shade our heads humble our hearts and spur us on to see more justice realized at Calvary.