This Does not seem Fair God

Jonah 4:1-3 “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.”

In our previous lesson, we observed the Ninevites’ radical response to God’s word through Jonah. The Ninevites heeded God’s warning and repented. This response from the Ninevites exemplifies the ideal outcome that a prophet or preacher would desire. However, Jonah had the opposite reaction. When God relented from His anger towards the Ninevites, it angered Jonah. This entire situation seemed very wrong to him, as mentioned in verse 1.

In his anger, Jonah then proceeds to pray. One would expect him to pray for God to work in his heart so that his heart finds alignment with God. But instead, Jonah’s prayer is more a complaint. There is only one other time that we saw Jonah pray, when he was in the belly of the fish, when God spared his life. This time his prayer is very different.

In a challenging situation, when Jonah found himself at the bottom of the ocean, inside the belly of a fish, he turned to God in prayer and eventually obeyed God by going to Nineveh. However, when circumstances improved, his heart hardened. This serves as a reminder to examine our hearts to ensure they are aligned with God’s will, as God is concerned with our motives and intentions, not just outward acts of obedience.

When Jonah prays, we get a clear insight into the explicit reason for his disobedience. Jonah says that he knew that God is a gracious and merciful God who is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relents from sending disaster.

Jonah is quoting from Exodus 34:6, when God’s people worship the golden calf. When God sees what they do, He was going to destroy them, Moses intercedes for them for 40 days and God relents. In Exodus 33, Moses prays and ask God to show him His glory and in chapter 34 we see God pass before Moses and proclaim that exact same sentence we see that Jonah references.  In this instance as God passes Moses, He speaks to Moses and tells him who He is, which is God’s own description of Himself. “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)

Jonah knew scripture well, it was etched into his heart and memory, and it was all good when it applied to himself and to Isreal but not to others. Jonah celebrated God’s mercy, kindness and love towards him when he was in the belly of the fish. But hated it when God extended it towards the Ninevites.

Does it make perfect sense that you deserve God’s grace but someone else does not? In Jonah’s head, he felt very justified in expecting a ‘graceless’ treatment from God towards his enemies. We all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). God is eager to save the lost and delights in extending Mercy. His judgement and His mercy are not at odds with each other, but they are both a part of who God is.

Self-Reflection: Jonah misses out on celebrating Nineveh’s repentance because he was so committed to his own idea of justice. How might holding anger or unforgiveness towards someone be stealing your joy?

Jonah could easily see the sin of the Ninevites and did not think they deserved God’s mercy. Yet Jonah himself had just received God’s mercy even after he had disobeyed a direct command from God. Why do you think it is so easy to see the sin of others and yet remain blind to our own sin?

We stop here for today, next week we will look at how God responds to Jonah’s little outburst of anger, and will be concluding our series through the book of Jonah.

God Bless.