Jonah
We all try to put ourselves In God's shoes, but we cannot
fill them, the earth is his footstool after all. We act as the God the world
has painted: a vengeful God ready to strike down anyone not measuring up to his
standards and is not sympathetic to our fallen nature. There is a real
contrast between God and this pharaoh. When anyone has done us wrong, or we hear
of individuals who have committed crimes, how fast are we to cast our judgment?
The verdict is in, destroy them! We are all guilty of this one way or another
and many lost sheep see God this way. Jonah chapter 1 speaks of how Jonah
disobeyed God by fleeing to Tarshish on a boat to avoid crying out to Nineveh
for their wickedness. God still used his rebellion, however, when he sent
a storm the men of the ship were saved because of their fear of God. Notice his
love that he would save his creation by the wayside. Jonah then had a one-way
trip to Nineveh via fish, curtesy of God. Along the way Jonah made things right
with the father before he reached his destination in chapter 2. We've all had
those days when we sincerely repent in silence and anguish in the silence of
the night. We look for the warmth of the father’s loving embrace and shelter
from the cold and empty aftermath of our sin, when we know fully well, we allow
it. When Jonah reaches Nineveh after a three-day
journey in chapter 3, he fulfilled his duties by crying out to the city about
their overthrowing in forty days. The king did something interesting though. He
ordered a fast, both man and beast in hopes that God would turn from his anger.
He did not know if God would turn away his anger but repented anyway. That's faith.
God did have mercy and spared the city. Now here is a contrast between God and
man: Jonah was not happy about the Lord’s mercy and even complained through prayer
about it. Complained... through prayer...about his love toward Nineveh. This
was his reason for fleeing in the first place. God even asked him if he is
right to be angry. God is having a conversation with Jonah about what he has
every right to do: show love and mercy toward his creation. Jonah had hoped
that Nineveh would be destroyed to the point where he headed for a place
outside of the city with a view by means to witness its destruction, he even made
a shelter. Now God is going to teach Jonah a lesson: he grows a gourd, a plant
big enough to give him shade to give him relief of his grief mind you. Later, destruction
of the gourd will come from a worm the next day. It didn't end there, God sent
an intense wind from the east and Jonah fainted due to the heat of the sun in chapter
4. Jonah ended up wishing he'd die because of his anger. Again, angry man, loving
father. When God asks this time if Jonah had the right to be angry about the gourd,
Jonah responded that he did well to be angry. What a conversation between the
creator and his creation. God then told Jonah about how he pitied a gourd that
was here one day and gone the next that he didn't grow himself and asked if he shouldn't
spare the people of Nineveh who did not know any better, even their livestock. Imagine
that God has every right to execute judgment on an unrighteous world and he
chooses not to out of sheer love, and we would cast it without a second thought
and reasons driven by pride.
Be encouraged to read his word and get to know the one who gave his
son to reconcile you onto himself…. Because he wanted to.
