A Lesson from Jonah

Jonah 3:10 - 4:2

When God saw what they 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.”

Context:

At the beginning of the book of Jonah, we read that God called Jonah to go to Nineveh to speak against the city as a result of the evil being done there.  But, Jonah resisted and headed in the opposite direction in a feeble attempt to flee the presence of the Lord.  Through miraculous works (a storm, a big fish, and God’s direction to the big fish), Jonah eventually found himself sharing the message of the Lord to the people of Nineveh.  The end result – the king of Nineveh issued a proclamation that all should turn from their wicked ways and repent in the hopes that God might turn away from His fierce anger against them.  And that’s exactly what happened – the people repented and God forgave.

Application:

We might be tempted to imagine that the end result for Nineveh would have been pleasing to Jonah.  Think about it – a whole city saved because he (eventually) showed himself faithful to bring them the message of the Lord.  God chose to use him to save the great city from destruction.  As I think about it, I’m equally tempted to imagine that I too would have been pleased to be used by God to bring His grace, mercy and abounding love to this wicked city.

But, we read in the beginning of Jonah 4 that Jonah was not pleased.  In fact, he was downright displeased – exceedingly displeased – angry even!  If you can imagine, he even goes so far as to tell God that he knew this was going to happen, because God’s too soft, too forgiving, too slow to get angry, too filled with steadfast love, and too willing to relent from disaster.  This seems to border on utter craziness!!!  I mean, really, what is Jonah thinking?  Why on earth would he complain about the very attributes that make God so amazing?  These are the very attributes that led God to shower Jonah himself with His grace and mercy.  Jonah had never had to experience the wrath of God for his own sin.  He should therefore be thanking and praising God for His wonderful characteristics.  Instead, he is speaking against God as if it were God who was flawed.  It’s downright crazy!!!  Why is Jonah so caught up in his own sense of what’s just for the people of Nineveh that he can’t even recognize that he himself is the recipient of God’s grace, mercy, and love, rather than God’s justice.  Jonah seems to be nothing more than self-serving, judgmental, and crazy!!!!

Confession time…  I had a revelation during house church this morning.  I’m Jonah.  I’ve at times experienced the hurt that accompanies the wrongs of others.  And, I’ve even recognized that God’s desire is for me to forgive.  The problem has been that I haven’t wanted to.  Forgiveness is letting those who have hurt me off too easily.  It flies in the face of the justice that I believe is needed.  It goes against my grain and leaves me wanting to flee from the presence of the Lord.  I just plain don’t want to forgive.  I know God’s calling me to do so, but I want to go to Tarshish.  I want to exact justice. 

All that said I have at least a faint recognition that fleeing to Tarshish will only bring storms into my life.  Carrying unforgiveness and bitterness may indeed cause pain to those who have hurt me.  But, at what cost to me?  As tempting as it is to carry that garbage, I’m the one who’s going to get hurt the most.  And like those on the ship with Jonah during the storm that God sent to get his attention, the people I love the most in this life – my wife and daughter – are in as much danger of getting hurt as I am.  They are along for the ride and are going to have to suffer through those storms with me if I can’t make the conscious choice to follow God’s call to forgiveness.

Yesterday’s Our Daily Bread devotional was written by Anne Cetas and includes the following:  “C.S. Lewis wrote, ‘It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak…  We are far too easily pleased’ with lesser things than Him.”  Wow!  What an incredibly poignant statement!  In the situations noted above, I desire to exact my own form of justice, and to do so at the expense of God’s call for my life.  I desire to flee.  When I think about the forgiveness alternative that’s available, I often find my opposing desires too strong.  It seems that throughout my entire life, the decision to do right vs. wrong has been directly related to the intensity of my desires.  The more I desire to go my own way, the more likely I am to give in to the temptation.  That’s why the devotional statement at first seemed so odd.  My desires at times can feel too strong to overcome and I’m therefore susceptible to falling into sin.  But, as I pondered the statement a little further, I realized that it’s not my desire for sin that’s lacking strength – it’s my desire for Him – for intimacy with Him, for closeness with Him, for His grace, for His mercy, for His love and for His forgiveness – for me and for those who have hurt me.  It’s my desire to be the man that God has called me to be that is weak.  If my desire for Him exceeded my desires for all other things, I would never choose to give in to the temptation of the lesser things. 

My “aha” moment – I need to develop my desire for God and for the things of Him so that nothing else compares.  Once I’m able to do that, I’ll never want to flee from God’s presence again.  I’ll know that no matter how difficult the journey, the path that God has for me is the path that’s best for me.  It’s not always going to be easy, but it will be far better than the storms that come when I try to run away.  And, it will be far better than having to spend three days and three nights in the belly of a fish, only to be vomited up to travel the road that God had for me all along.

Forgive me, Father, for thinking my form of justice is more important and more virtuous than Your characteristics of being gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.  Make my desire for You the strongest desire of them all.  In the powerful Name of Jesus, Amen.