Jonah 4:1-11
The book of Jonah is best remembered for the BIG WHALE. Sunday School children have drawn multiple pictures of the whale with a stick figure being spewed from its mouth. Is that, however, the main theme of this book?
So many of us are just like Jonah who knows God has a task for us to do and just don’t want to do it. In this case, it would interrupt Jonah’s life, so he takes off to a place where God won’t find him! That is where the storm at sea and the whale come into the story. Lesson 1: you can’t run away from God! Yet, when the going gets scary, Jonah calls out to God for help. And true to the nature of God, God hears his cry. Jonah is saved. Lesson 2: God care about us, even when we have caused the mess we are in!
Of course, the job God had for Jonah was still available. This time Jonah figures he had better get on board and takes off for Nineveh to proclaim the message of the destruction of the city as God commanded. The message Jonah proclaimed, however, woke the people of Nineveh up and they repented. They turn to God completely! When God saw how sorry they were, God “changed his mind” and the calamity he had said he would do, “he did not do it.”
Here is the human response part. Instead of rejoicing with God over the positive response the people had, Jonah got angry at God. See, see, I knew you would have compassion on those sinful folks! That’s the kind of God you are, gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and forgiving. Why should I have spent valuable time and effort bringing them your message only to have you forgive them? And Jonah sat down and moped, complained, and felt sorry for himself.
Read the rest of the story to see how God brought home the point of his compassion. Consider this. God has a message of love, hope, correction, and warning for us to give to others as God sees fit for us to do. Do it and allow God to take your words, actions, and caring to work wonders. Don’t be surprised by what God can and will do—for others and for you. Rejoice when God’s Word is heard.