Jonah 4

It is all about relationship! Jonah had a real relationship with God. He talked to God, he reasoned with God and even though he still wasn’t totally convinced he listened and did it anyway. In His will for our life He uses us as a lifeline to others that He loves. He sees the whole picture that we only see in part.

In contrast to God, Jonah had no compassion on the people of Nineveh. Jonah’s irritation belied the good news that the city would be spared. Jonah himself had just been spared God’s fair judgment, but he was unable to appreciate the parallel. In his continuing stubbornness and lack of compassion, Jonah held out hope that God would judge Nineveh. This was God’s chief complaint against him.

The Lord had rescued Jonah from drowning; now He wished to relieve His prophet from the misery of the sun. The reach of God’s mercy to the undeserving is a theme that continued to elude Jonah even as he experienced it. Jonah’s anger did not arise from a desire for justice but from his own selfishness. He continued to justify his rebellious attitude. And again, God was merciful. The Book of Jonah ends on this note of contrast between Jonah’s ungracious heart and the kind heart of the Lord.

The same word used to describe Jonah’s feeling toward the plant is used of God’s feeling toward the people of Nineveh. People are of more value than animals, and animals of more value than plants, but the Lord has a concern that extends to all of His creation. 

Jonah 4

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. ² 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. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” 

⁴ Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 

⁵ So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. ⁶ And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. ⁷ But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. ⁸ And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 

⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” 

And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” 

¹⁰ But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹ And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?