QUESTIONS OF THE HEART
Opening Prayer
Open my heart to receive from You today, my God.
Read Jonah 4
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Compassion
4 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[a] 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?”
Footnotes:
a Jonah 4:6 The precise identification of this plant is uncertain; also in verses 7, 9 and 10.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Have you ever been angry with God? How did it resolve?Jonah is angry and out it comes! He had long suspected God’s compassion extended to Israel’s enemy. Nineveh had devoured Israel for decades (Nahum 3:1–4), yet God withholds His anger from them. Understandably Jonah is shocked, perhaps fearful about Israel’s place before God (2). He wants only to die (3).
God’s response is grace. A tender and poignant interaction unfolds. Anger has rendered Jonah’s heart defective, closed to the enormity of God’s purposes. God comes alongside. Patiently He enacts a “shade” drama (5), inviting Jonah to know His heart. God’s questioning of Jonah’s right to be angry points to God’s own right (11) to love His creation.
We, too, get stuck in our “rules” about God. Recently a woman shared with me her desire to return to God. Having resisted until elderly, she felt hypocritical asking God to love her now. We discussed a parable of grace. She disagreed with mercy, until challenged to consider God’s prerogative to make the rules. Refusing mercy would deny both herself and God. God is bigger than our small thinking. He offers compassion and anger where He wills. His grace extends even to His enemies (10, 11). This same God patiently challenges and teaches us, that we might know Him as He really is.
Apply
Is it hard to accept that God loves you completely right now with all of your successes and failures? Open your heart to God’s work in you. Choose to live within His grace today.
Closing prayer
Thank You so much for Your grace, my Savior. I praise You that You love me more than I can ever imagine.
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