Jonah Chapter 4 – The Melodramatic Prophet

In chapter 1 we read about the “Rebellious Prophet”

Chapter 2 was about the “Semi-Repentant Prophet”

Chapter 3 was about the “Reluctantly Obedient Prophet”

I’ve titled chapter 4 “The Melodramatic Prophet”

Have you ever felt angry at God? That something happened to you or someone else that you just didn’t feel was right and you blamed God?

We’ve all had those feelings. Right or wrong. We’ve blamed God for uncomfortable circumstances, refusing to see if there might be a purpose behind them. But later, after our human emotions calmed down perhaps we saw some purpose in them.

• Did God put you in the path of someone you would have never talked to had it not been for being in that place, at that time, due to those circumstances?
• Did God want you to learn to be thankful for what you have, whether it’s great or small?
• Did God want you to push your boundaries of comfort out a little and the only way he could do that was to “force” you out there because you were sitting too comfortably in one spot?
• Did God want you to learn to rely on Him for something that you’d always relied on yourself for?
• Did God want to teach you that all things, big and small, painful or soft, easy or hard, come from him and are designed to give you the strength to do more than you ever thought you could do?

These are legitimate lessons. And God understands that sometimes we get frustrated and upset. That we cry out in petulant anger or frustration. He has big shoulders. He can handle that.

That’s NOT what Jonah chapter 4 is about.

Jonah chapter 4 is a temper tantrum. Short and simple.

The Bible never records whether Jonah repented of his hard heart or not. In fact, the book kind of ends abruptly. Like two people agreeing to disagree and walking away. It’s not your typical fairy tale where “everyone lives happily ever after” and Jonah says, “You know God, you’re right. Forgive me please.” No.

Like the story of Cain and Abel – if you remember Cain never repents of killing his brother, and even complains that “his punishment” is too hard for HIM to bear. Jonah just abruptly ends with no contrite, repentant heart.

So what are we to take away from all that? Where do you go with it? The only place you CAN go.

Learn your lesson from Jonah’s hard heart, and don’t allow your own heart to become so hard that you can’t see through God’s eyes.

What does John 3:16 say? It says, “For God So Loved THE WORLD.”

Not my corner of it? Or just Americans? Or just Christians? No. THE WORLD.

What was God’s commandment at the end of Matthew. “Go Into All THE WORLD.”

Not just Israel. Or Rome. Or Greece. But THE WORLD. Why?

Because God made all people. And because they live in darkness he wants to bring them into the light. It was never his intention to “play favorites.” Man’s hard heart is what separates us from each other. God wants ALL people to love and worship him. Which is why he commanded the disciples to go into ALL the world.

I John 1:5-10

Isaiah 42:6-7

Do you think Jonah believed these things?

What I see when I read Jonah chapter 4 is a God that is desperately trying to show Jonah that He is in control of everything. Life, death, plants, animals. Like my pastor said yesterday, every time you read about something happening it says “God provided” or “caused” or “commanded” it to happen.

He “caused” the storm. He “provided” a fish. He “commanded” it to spit Jonah out. He “provided” a shady plant. He “provided” a worm. He “provided” an east wind. If anyone had a sense of God’s overwhelming power it was Jonah. And yet instead of being in the utmost awe of everything, he chooses to throw a temper tantrum! We should take a lesson from that.

I liked the way the pastor spoke about how we should see through God’s eyes. That instead of seeing someone that’s rebellious or acting like a jerk, we see a person that is lost and hurting. That’s the only way to truly have an impact on someone.

I remember as a child when I would occasionally get a spanking. The first thing my parents did was send me to my room so that they could calm themselves down and not come in angry and swinging. And to give me time to reflect on my actions and hopefully be repentant. Much like God putting Jonah in the fish for 3 days to “reflect” on his actions.

The second thing they did was make me tell them why I was getting the spanking. In other words, own up to my actions. If I didn’t get it right they’d gently correct me.

After the spanking  they’d come in and sit down and hold me. They’d tell me they loved me and that God loved me and that He (and they) didn’t want me to be a liar, or someone that hit other people and hurt them, or someone that stole (I never did that, but you get the point). Much like God providing the plant for Jonah to sit under and “calm down.”

Finally we’d pray together. They would thank God for me and pray that I would be a good person and not do whatever it was I had done anymore. Something simple that a child could understand. Then I’d pray and ask God to forgive me, and ask Him to help me to be a good girl, or something like that. Jonah NEVER really did this.

So I learned from an early age that punishment wasn’t out of anger or lashing out. That it was meant to reinforce a lesson. To correct a severely wrong behavior. And that no matter what, I was loved by my parents, and loved by God, and that they only wanted the best for me. This is the lesson Jonah “could” have learned from sitting in the fish, or having the plant taken away from him.

Jonah however didn’t learn this. When God gave him a plant and took it away it was to demonstrate that He had a plan, that He was in control. That He was the provider of all things. Instead though, Jonah sulks and throws a tantrum. “You took away MY plant.”

So I never grew up with the idea that God was irrational, lashing out for no reason when he felt angry or upset. No, I learned that He always had a plan for my life. That he wanted good things and that I couldn’t receive those good things if I was being rebellious and hard hearted. These are lessons I carry with me today.

Jonah COULD HAVE learned those lessons. But he chose not too!

So what’s the lesson of Jonah? I think there’s 3 important lessons:

1. That we, as individuals, can choose to be in God’s plan or out of it. It’s up to us and our willingness to participate by having a soft heart and open mind.
2. That God is in charge of everything on earth. He controls all things. Like my box with the word “God” and “Grace” in it from chapter 1. I can CHOOSE to let God speak to me any way that He wants to, any time that He wants to. And demonstrate his power and grace any way He wants to. Or I can CHOOSE to ignore Him. But God controls everything whether I acknowledge it or not.
3. No matter how far down in darkness someone is they can always come out into the light. And no matter how bright the light of God shines we can always choose to turn our back on it and walk back into the darkness.

Instead of focusing on Jonah’s temper tantrum I have chosen to focus on God and his strength, love and power. So I spent some time doing a word study on Love and have a few verses from the Bible that talk about love.

Psalm             25:4-13	32:7-11	33	36:7-9	100
Romans 5:5-8	8:31-39	I Corinthians 13	Galatians 5:22-23	Ephesians 3:14-21
I John 3:1	4:7-21

Now I want US to do a word study using our concordances. I have some words that the Bible says demonstrate God’s personality. I want each of us to choose one word and in the next 5 minutes or so look up some verses in our concordance and find one or two that really demonstrate God’s nature.

The verses don’t have to have ‘that” exact word in it. But I would like for them to have that “concept” in it.

Power

Light

Strength

Omnipotence (all-seeing, all-knowing)

Loyal

Patience

Peaceful

Peacemaker

Reconciling

Forgiving

Now that we have a “slight” understanding of God’s nature. Perhaps we can look at ourselves and check our nature against that. The Bible commands us to “be Holy because God is Holy.” How do we measure up against some of these verses.

These verses give us some things to be thankful for, and some things in our nature to strive for.

In the end, we can choose to be thankful that God is a forgiving God that loves us into repentance, or we can choose to be a petulant, tantrum throwing child, when we see God’s love demonstrated to someone “we” feel doesn’t deserve it.

It’s our choice. See through human eyes, or see through God’s eyes. That’s the ultimate lesson of Jonah.

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