Jonah 3:10-4:11

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” 10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

Have you ever been disappointed with God’s decisions? Jonah’s response to this radical repentance was not one of rejoicing but regret. Instead of celebrating God’s mercy he was mad. Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh and preach God’s message of peace because he believed that they deserved death. He would have been perfectly content to see them condemned, because he didn’t want peace he wanted payback. But the they responded to God and repented, they took God seriously and fasting in sackcloth and ashes. When God saw that they had turned from their evil ways He had compassion on them. Mercy triumphed over judgment and the grace of God was displayed in all its glory. God was no longer angry with Nineveh but Jonah, the one who knows personally the grace of God, still was. Even though he had just been rescued from his own grave, in the belly of the fish, because of God’s grace he still didn’t get it. Jonah like many of us was great with God’s grace as long as it applied to him. It is in the closing chapter of Jonah that we realize that the story of Jonah is not really about Jonah. We might think that this is the story about Jonah and the whale, his rebellion and Nineveh’s repentance, but that is just the surface story, the deeper story describes the heart of God. This is where we discover that God possesses a passion for all people, even those we would be tempted to label wicked and worthless. It is here that we see the contrast of two hearts, one filled with compassion the other callous.  “1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?” For only the second time we see the prophet of God in prayer, but this time instead of a prayer of repentance we see one of regret.  Once again we see the prophet of God AWOL, not absent without leave but angry without love. It’s a condition that seems to have contaminated and consume the church today. It’s the pharisaical poison that deludes and destroys our thinking, hardening our heart as it calluses our compassion. Jonah’s reaction to the repentance of Nineveh is ridiculous; one would think that he of all people would be leaping for joy and full of thanksgiving. Prophets often preach messages that fell on deaf ears and were dismissed, they rarely saw revival. This is the kind of revival that preachers pray for, to see over a 120,000 people surrendering to God’s plan of peace. So why isn’t Jonah excited over their repentance, because there is no room for rejoicing in revenge. Revenge always leads to ruin, this is more than just a pouting prophet having a poor me pity party this is the kind of darkness that results in depression and even a desire for death. Revenge desires and demands death, fooling us into thinking that there are some things that cannot be forgiven. We end up living miserable lives, limiting the love of the Lord. But revenge doesn’t just rob us of joy it ruins our relationship with God, because it causes us to call into question His character. Instead of celebrating God’s compassion Jonah complains about God’s perfect character. Revenge causes our rationale to border on the ludicrous, and just like Jonah our statements become laughable. His rationale was simply, “I knew it that is why I ran away. Because I was afraid they would repent and you would have mercy but they don’t deserve it!” So Jonah tries to justify himself, and his ironic argument is that he, Jonah, is the consistent one. But what Jonah is actually trying to do is to lock God into his own theological box. But it will never work because God is simply too big to fit into our narrow minded belief system. The problem with our belief systems is that they revolve around and serve self. When we follow our own belief system the basis for fairness becomes our feelings instead of an all knowing Father. Jonah’s belief system actually deceived him into trying to displace the deity. He believed he knew better than God. Taken to the extreme we become the judge jury and executioner.  In our delusional thinking we try to dislodge the deity and ultimately take God’s place on the throne. It comes from a desire to be in control, but the writer of Jonah makes it clear who is really in control. For It is in the book of Jonah that we see that everything that happens, happens because it was appointed by God. God appointed the storm, the fish, the plant, the worm, the scorching heat and wind. Only God is in control of His creation, He alone is sovereign. It is here that we come face to face with the truth that God doesn’t take orders from anyone. May be today you are mad at the Messiah because things have not gone according to plan, your plan that is! There are many today who are trying to dictate to the deity because they are disappointed with His decisions. Their faulty belief system has distorted their thinking into believing that they know better than God. And while Jonah was mad at God’s compassion to the point that he asks for death God in His mercy doesn’t give him what he deserves. There is no thundering rebuke just the reasonable and reflective question, “Have you any right to be angry?” It is here that we see the gracious heart of God and the true depth of his goodness. This is a lesson in love, a lesson we all need to learn, that God’s love is not based on what we like but on His unchanging character. Today you may find yourself angry at the Almighty, because from your perspective He failed to follow your plan, but when did the deity become subject to your desires, when did your God start having to walk according to your will? And if God actually fit into your limited description of love He would be nothing more than a lie, a figment of your fantasy. You don’t really have God you have a gene, trapped in the bottle of self-belief. God’s direction is not set according to your desires, or dictated by the beat of your drum. For the created is not in control of the creator. Are you AWOL today, Angry Without Love? Have you bought into a bogus belief system, where fairness revolves around your feelings instead of the Father? Don’t let your disappointments deceive you into being mad when you should be glad. Where are you really at today, are you a pouting prophet or a praising one?

Jonah 2:10-3:10

2:10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach. 1 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” 3 This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” 5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. 6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 7 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. 9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” 10 When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

Chapter two ended with a praying prophet and a puking fish. Sometimes God’s redirection involves regurgitation and it isn’t always pretty. We like the results of repentance it’s the process of puking that we find revolting. But we need to remember that sin never smells good, it stinks and its gut wrenching. Sin wants to swallow us whole, to surrounded us with its stench. What is it that is holding you hostage, trapping and tying you down? You don’t have to live stuck in the stomach of sin, you can confess and come clean. After Jonah’s confession we find him free of the fish, and free to follow the Father. So let me ask you, where do you want to be, on the beach or in the belly? It is here that Jonah’s discovers that:

• God is a giver of grace

“The Lord spoke to Jonah a second time” Sitting in the sand still stinking from his decision to disobey Jonah experienced the God of second chances.  Have you ever longed to make right a major mistake? We have all made mistakes, whether it’s in our finances or family, some right now are dealing with a marriage mess, or parenting problems. It’s in the midst of these mistakes that we wish we could have one more chance for change, an opportunity to begin again. Our failures can leave us feeling that God our Father could never use us again. That we have ruined any chance to be used by Him, that we could never be bless again. But Jonah found that the forgiveness of the Father involved a second chance to serve. Repentance brought both redirection and a re-commissioning. But notice that it is only after Jonah repents that God commissions him to call others to repentance. We have a Savior who is willing to stoop to use those who have rejected his calling and turned a deaf ear to His word. Redeeming the rebellious and seeking disobedient, directionally-challenged sheep is what our Shepherd does. He is the pursuer of the prodigal, the Lord of the ‘Lost and Found.’ If there is one area that we consistently underestimate the Fathers love I think it’s in His loving longing to forgive. Jonah failed when he was first called to go to Nineveh, but his failure wasn’t final. May be you are struggling with failure today; know you are not alone, for Jonah was not the only person in the Bible who “failed” God at some point. After God promised Abraham that he and his wife Sarah would have a son, he disbelieved God and decided to follow his own plan. He disobeyed God and had a child by his wife’s servant. Even though he “failed” he found a Father that did not give up on him and God made Abraham the “father of many nations”.  Jacob not only lied to his earthly father but he stole his brother’s birthright and blessing. He experienced family failure, but after God had wrestled him into obedience he received a new name, Israel. King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, then he had her husband murdered to hide his failing, but after he finds God’s forgiveness we find God describing David as a man after God’s own heart. Peter proudly proclaimed that he would never deny Jesus but he did, three times in public. Peter failed Jesus but after he is forgiven he goes on to preach with power on the day of Pentecost, where many lives are changed for Christ. Sometimes we feel like our failure is forever, that it’s fatal and its final, that we can never be forgiven, but we have a Father that longs to forgive. May be today you find yourself stuck in sin, desperate for a second chance. Are you ready to exchange your life in the belly of sin for the shore of second chances? Then right where you are surrender to God and seek His face of forgiveness, repent and reject your life of sin. Next Jonah discovered that:

• God’s still had a plan for his life

“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” Just because Jonah had pursued his own direction and disobeyed it didn’t change Gods plan. Our failure doesn’t force God to change directions; Jonah was the one who had to course correct. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” So are you going to sit in the puke or pursue His plan? Today we want to sit on the shore, to stay where it is safe, but God’s plan involves proclaiming His offer of peace to other people. You don’t have to be defined by disobedience, are you going to find your identity in your failure or the Fathers forgiveness? When the Word of God came to Jonah the second time it came with the same commission that he had received at first. It was God’s plan for him to go to Nineveh and it was still God’s plan. It was Jonah that changed not God’s plan. Today many Christians claim that they don’t know what God wants them to do, which reminds me of a story Donald Grey Barnhouse, a pioneer in preaching over the radio, once told. His daughter had come to him with a request that he had denied. ‘Well then what do you what me to do?’ she had asked. He told her what he wanted and then went on with his work. She remained standing in front of him and after a while Mrs. Barnhouse called to the daughter from another room, ‘Where are you? What are you doing?’ she asked. The daughter replied, ‘I am waiting for daddy to tell me what he wants me to do.’ To which Mr. Barnhouse raised his head and said to her, ‘Whatever you are doing it is not waiting to find out what I want you to do. I have told you what I want you to do, but you do not like it. You are actually waiting to see if you can get me to change my mind.” If we were honest with ourselves we will admit that we know a lot more about what God wants than what we are doing. You and I know that God wants us to be a witnessing, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be good stewards of our time, treasures, and talents, just to name a few. So are you being obedient to what He has already told you to do? Is it time to stop hiding behind the excuse that you don’t know what God’s wants and get busy with what you do know of His Will? I think our problem is that we often know what God’s will is we just don’t want to do it. Lastly Jonah discovered what:

• God can do with a surrendered servant.

“This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” Jonah became a messenger of mercy, he had a short sermon of only 8 words but it had radical results. The whole city confessed and responded to God’s message with great mourning.  Verse 5 says: “The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. 6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes.” When Jonah surrendered to go and speak God used even the terrible experience of his time in the belly of the fish for His glory. God has the power to do the same thing through your pain. Out of our failure God can bring spiritual success and forge a future where there was only a mess. Only God can take the bad and use it to bless, which I believe is what Paul is getting at in Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Obedience not only benefits our life but it can bring blessing to many others. I love the truth that this chapter is bracketed by God’s mercy; it starts with His mercy to Jonah and ends with His mercy on Nineveh. But notice that the mercy which results from repentance is a limited time offer. Nineveh had forty days to seek God’s forgiveness. We have a God that pursues and is patient, but there is a limit to lawlessness. If we fail to heed His Word and continue to do what we want the consequences of our actions will eventually catch up to us and cost us dearly. What direction are you running in today, are you running toward rebellion or repentance? Are you walking in the footsteps of forgiveness or failure?