Jonah Review

I am going to review some of the things I believe we can learn from Jonah.  The first is that God has a purpose for us.  We are not saved to just sit back and watch the world go by waiting to get to heaven.  If salvation is simply a ticket to heaven, then once we are saved, there would be no reason to remain here on earth.  We do have a purpose, though, and that is to witness to the lost and dying world.  Next, we need to realize that God is not going to force us to obey His calling. We can run, just as Jonah did.  It doesn't matter why we run.  When we do, we put ourselves and others at risk.  We don't even have to leave home to run.  Anytime we fail to follow God's will for our life, we are running from Him.  Jonah was still one of God's people, even when he ran, and so are we.  After we are saved, we are God's children forever.  Still, we need to realize that running brings consequences.  It affects not only us, but all those around us.  If we are rebelling against God's call, we cannot be an effective witness for Him.  Our decisions as Christians affect all those around us. Fortunately, as He did with those on the ship, God still waits for them to come to Him and can still reach them through us even if we are running.  We simply have to acknowledge that the one true God is who we serve and that He is in control.  We should never be so full of hate that we don't want certain people saved.  My belief is that God did not call us to be destroyers but witnesses.  We need to witness to the love of God for everyone, not to His love for some and hatred for others.  God loves the vilest sinner as much as the mildest sinner.  We can trust God to meet our needs.  Jonah may not have felt that way in the belly of the whale, but God was saving his life.  Running from God may lead us to some bad situations, but we are still His forever. We simply have to run to Him instead of away from Him.  Finally, we are never justified in being angry when someone is saved, no matter how much we may dislike or hate them.  Again, as followers of Christ, we are to live by His example and reach out to all with the love of the Father.

Jonah 4:6

Jonah 4:6 says, And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. Jonah was in the hot sun, and God brought him relief in the form of a gourd that provided him shelter from the heat.  This is at least the second time God had met Jonah's physical needs.  We might wonder at the giant fish and the gourd, but they met a need.  We have to understand that it would have been just as easy for God to immediately place Jonah on dry land from the sea or to place clouds and a cool wind over Jonah, but God was attempting to help Jonah grow in faith and compassion.  Jonah was exceedingly glad that his physical need had been met.  We need to be careful that we don't rejoice more when God meets our physical needs than when He meets others spiritual needs.  Verse seven adds, But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.  God was not trying to bless and then torture Jonah. We can be sure that if we have been received a blessing from God and it is then taken away that it doesn't mean that God loves us any less.  Verse eight continues, And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.  God took away the shelter He had prepared for Jonah, and once again Jonah said it would be better for him to die.  Do we act the same way when we lose material blessings?  We may value something, or even someone, so highly that if we lose it or them, we feel that we would be better off dead.  Jonah was self-centered, and if we feel that way, so are we.  Verse nine states, And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.  Jonah felt justified in his anger.  He was not getting what he wanted.  We today may feel justified to feel angry unto death when things don't go our way, but that isn't God's will for us.  That is being self-centered. Verse ten adds, Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:  God was again attempting to teach Jonah.  He wanted Jonah to grow in his understanding of what is important, and He wants the same for us today.  Verse eleven continues, And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?  God asks Jonah what was more important, the gourd or all the people of Nineveh.  We are not told Jonah's answer.  God asks us the same thing today.  What is more important, our physical comfort or the salvation of souls.  It is up to each of us to answer that question.

Jonah 4:4

Jonah 4:4 says, Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? Jonah was angry that a whole city had accepted God as their God, and God wanted to know why Jonah felt that was the right attitude to have.  When people today come to Christ as their Savior, we should never be upset or angry about it.  Jonah was angry at least in part because the people of Nineveh were Gentiles, and God was accepting them.  We cannot feel that there are people who shouldn't be saved, much less whole nations of people.  Verse five adds, So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.  Jonah wanted to view the city to see if God would yet destroy it.  We today do not need to be sitting back waiting for God to destroy evil people.  Had He done that, we would have been among them.  Jonah was attempting to be comfortable while he waited.  We need to be careful that we are not guilty of the same thing today.  We are not called to sit back in comfort while waiting for the destruction of those we do not like and who do not like us. We are to be witnesses for God, not judges of the world.  Jonah definitely did not want to go to Nineveh, and he was angry when they repented. There may be places we don't want to go today to share the gospel, not because we are afraid that people won't listen, but because we are afraid they will.  We want God to forgive us, but we want Him to punish others.  This is not what we are called to do.  We are called to share the message of Christ with all those we come in contact with. We cannot spend our time trying to make ourselves comfortable while waiting for God to destroy those that we don't like.  As followers of Christ we are called to a higher standard.  Until we truly begin to reach out to all the world with the message of salvation through Christ, wanting all to be saved, God may be asking us if we do well to be angry.

Jonah 4:1

Jonah 4:1 says, But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.  We would think that Jonah would be very happy that his obeying God and proclaiming His word had been used by God to save Nineveh, but Jonah was displeased with what God had done.  He was more than upset.  He was angry.  I believe he was angry with the people for repenting and being saved, at God for forgiven them and even at himself for his part in it.  We today need to guard against resenting anyone being saved.  No matter how we may personally feel about them, we need to realize that everyone is saved by the same grace of God, and the only way anyone is saved is by the grace of God.  We should rejoice anytime this happens.  Verse two adds, And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.  Jonah was in effect telling God I told you so.  Even before Jonah tried to run away to Tarshish, he knew that God's mercy would be extended to the people of Nineveh if they repented and turned to Him.  Jonah, I believe, would have willing gone to Nineveh if he thought the people were actually going to be destroyed.  As followers of Christ, we need to be careful that we are not looking for the vengeance of God to fall on anyone, but for His mercy to be displayed.  I do not believe that we can ever have the attitude that we are waiting for God to give those that we don't like, even those that we hate, what they deserve.  Instead, we need to pray that God will save them through His mercy, just as He did us.  Verse three continues, Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.  Jonah was so successful as an evangelist that he wanted God to take his life.  That is a powerful hate for a group of people.  I believe too often today we hate groups of people instead of wanting to reach them with God's love.  A person who dies without knowing Christ as their personal Savior is forever separated from God, and we should mourn anytime that happens.

Jonah 3:10

Jonah 3:10 says, And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.  The people of Nineveh were saved because they truly repented, asked for God's forgiveness, and turned from their evil ways.  Again, true repentance is more than words.  True repentance is a change in our very nature, where God's forgiveness leads to a new way of life.  There are those who say everything, both good and bad, is preordained.  Here, we read that God changed His mind about what He was going to do to the people of Nineveh.  Some would say that God knew all along that they were going to repent and be saved, but He did not send Jonah with a message of salvation, but of destruction.  Fortunately, we as His followers today are sent with a message of salvation.  I don't believe we are to look for the destruction of sinners, no matter how evil they are, but for their salvation.  We know Jonah knew of the reputation of the people of Nineveh as being evil, but it wasn't a fear of them that made him not want to go. We know he didn't want to go because he was afraid that they would be saved.  What is our attitude today about those who are truly evil today?  Do we fear them?  Do we want them destroyed?  As followers of Christ, we must pray and witness for their redemption, not their destruction.  If anyone dies without coming to a saving knowledge of Christ, then they are forever separated from God.  We, as God's followers, should never be happy when this happens, no matter how evil, or good, that person might be. We cannot write off whole segments of society, or the world, because we view them as evil.  Again, from the cross, Jesus asked for forgiveness for those who crucified Him.  We might say they didn't deserve it, but neither do we.  If we, as followers of Christ, begin to live our lives out of fear and hatred of whole segments of the world, then we cannot be effective witnesses for God.  God may still work through us, but we will miss the joy of our salvation.

Jonah 3:7

Jonah 3:7 says, And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:  There was not just a claim of repentance, but there was a total change in life.  It affected not only the people, but also their animals.  Nothing was to eat or drink.  I think sometimes today, we take repentance too lightly.  We want to repent without anyone knowing that we did anything wrong.  Repentance requires acknowledging that we have sinned and asking God's forgiveness.  It requires humbling ourselves and admitting that we cannot restore ourselves to a right relationship with God.  As long as we feel that our sin isn't really a big deal and that as long as we utter words of repentance God has to forgive us, I am not sure we have really repented.  Repentance should touch every aspect of our life.  I don't believe we can truly repent and stand on our own goodness.  Sinning against God is a serious thing, and repentance should be also.  Verse eight adds, But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.  They were called on not just to show outward signs of repentance, but to change the very nature of the way they lived.  Repentance has to bring change, based on turning everything over to God.  We cannot feel that our sins are small and other peoples are big.  Any sin separates us from God, and we can only be restored to a right relationship with Him when we ask His forgiveness.  Nothing else should be of importance until this happens.  The outward signs are not enough until we call on God. Verse nine continues, Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?  The king was hopeful that God would hear them, and that He would not destroy them.  We today know that as God's followers He is not out to destroy us, nor anyone else, but that doesn't make sin any less powerful.  We cannot effectively follow God with sin in our life, no matter how small we feel it is.

Jonah 3:4

Jonah 3:4 says, And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.  Nineveh was a large city, and Jonah was but one man. Since he was God's messenger, though, he had no reason to fear.  I hear people today say that Jonah was bleached out very white while in the belly of the whale.  I personally don't believe that to be the case, since God prepared the whale to save him, and the Bible doesn't say anything about it.  Jonah was not sent to call attention to himself, but simply to proclaim God's word.  The city was put on a forty-day notice, and it was up to them whether to believe or not.  We cannot be that exact about the time, but we can tell the lost of the world that if they don't turn to God, they ultimately will be destroyed.  Verse five adds, So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.  Jonah didn't want to be there, and we find no evidence of his preaching being powerful, but the whole city believed God.  The people must have been convicted by the power of God, because from what we read about Jonah's message, he offered them no hope.  We today, when we are reaching out to the world, need to reach out to them with the message of repentance and hope, not with the message of destruction.  We are not called to judge and condemn the world, but to reach them with God's love.  The people of Nineveh did not say they had forty days, so there was no hurry.  They believed God and repented.  They humbled themselves before God, from the greatest to the least.  What a revival Jonah preached, but it wasn't Jonah's powerful preaching that made the difference.  It was the belief of the people.  God today can work through the simplest of messages, as long as it is His word being presented under His leadership and authority.  We simply have to obey His calling and proclaim His message.  God will bring forth the results.