The Bible says
in Jonah 4:4, “Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?”
It seems interesting that God ignores Jonah’s previous statement where Jonah
said that he wanted to die. Perhaps the Lord knew it was best to go right to
the source of Jonah’s attitude problem. If someone gets to the point where they
do not want to live any more, there probably are other problems that led them
to that point. In Jonah’s case, his anger showed where his problem was. God
simply says, “Jonah, it was not a good idea for you to get angry like you did.”
Most human anger is unjustified and sinful. It says in Ephesians 4:26, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:”
The challenge is to be angry without sinning, and if you do get angry, to make
sure the anger does not last long.” Jesus compared anger to murder. Jesus said
in Matthew 5:21-22, “Ye have heard that it
was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill;
and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:[22] But I
say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall
be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever
shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Anger is often the root cause of murder. What is the root
cause of anger? Human pride and selfishness is often the root cause of anger.
Someone says or does something that we did not want to be said or done, and
then we get angry about it.
Because humans
are so selfish and so full of pride, they too easily get angry. Notice how
people who are not saved are described in Ephesians 2:3, “Among whom
also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the
children of wrath, even as others.” Believers should not
be known for their wrath. We have something that unbelievers do not have that
should keep us from being overcome by anger: our faith. Is God Almighty in His
power or is He not? Is Jesus involved in every detail of our lives or is He
not? Do we believe Romans 8:28 or don’t we? It says, “And we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” So just maybe there is nothing to be angry about. Just
maybe, Almighty God is in control. Just maybe, God has a purpose in what He
allowed. Just maybe, Jesus can take something that appears to be bad and turn
it into something good. There is no “maybe” about any of these things. These
are among the benefits of being a Christian. Instead of being angry, you can
have faith and acceptance.
The Bible says
in Jonah 4:5, “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.” Notice the last
phrase of this verse. Jonah was hoping that the city would get destroyed. God did
say that the city would be destroyed if they did not repent. Yes, they
repented, but maybe they did not repent enough. What a hard heart Jonah had.
Jonah still did not have compassion on lost souls the way that a believer
should. Maybe the way that Jonah was is not so uncommon. Each of us should ask
ourselves: how much do we really care about lost souls?
Once again we
see that the Lord did not give up on Jonah. The Lord continued to work in
Jonah’s life so that Jonah grow as a believer and become a better person. The
Lord does the same thing for each of us who believe in Jesus. After we get
saved, the growing process starts. God goes to work in our lives to improve us,
to increase our faith, and to make us better followers of Christ. It says in Ephesians
2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
The Bible says
in Jonah 4:6-8, “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.[7] But
God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd
that it withered.[8] 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.” Notice the phrase in verse 6, “The LORD God prepared a gourd,” and the phrase in verse 7, “but God prepared a worm,” and the phrase in verse 8, “God prepared a
vehement east wind.” These verses go along
with Jonah 1:17 that says, “Now the LORD God had prepared a great fish.” We are reminded once again that God is in control of the
plants and the animals and the natural world. Of course, He is: He created
them, and He is their master as well as ours. We are also reminded that God has
a purpose in all things that He causes and in all things that He allows. The spiritual rules over the material and physical. If you
are not aware of the spiritual world, you are not aware of reality: not only
that, you are not even alive. That is one of the reasons that Jesus said in John
3:5-8, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God.[6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.[7] Marvel not that I
said unto thee, Ye must be born again.[8] The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
We see that
God is using everything in Jonah’s life to work in Jonah’s life because there
are things for Jonah to learn. God has not given up on Jonah. Jonah is a
believer, and so the Lord works in his life to teach him and make him better.
Jonah had a lot of weaknesses and failures. He did not have much faith, he did
not have much love, he certainly did not care about lost souls, and he was not
surrendered to God’s will. All of this shows that Jonah was not very dedicated
to God and was not very appreciative of the things that God had done for him. And
yet the Lord never gave up on Jonah, even after Jonah had given up on himself.
What lesson
was God trying to teach Jonah? The Bible says in Jonah 4:9-11, “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.[10] 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:[11] 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?” Actually, God was trying to teach
Jonah more than one lesson. The first lesson had to do with anger. God asked
Jonah in verse 9, “Doest thou well to be
angry?” Much of Jonah’s problem could be
traced to his anger. God just wanted Jonah to reflect on Jonah’s own behavior.
There is such a thing as good healthy introspection. It is not a question of
what happened to you, but how did you respond to what happened? That is what it
is all about or a believer. There is a right way of responding with faith and
love to whatever happens to you, and there is a wrong way of responding with
the flesh and with human selfishness. The New Testament describes this as the
difference between the works of the works and the fruits of the spirit. It says
in Galatians 5:16-25, “This I say then, Walk
in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.[17] For
the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye
cannot do the things that ye would.[18] But if ye be led of the Spirit,
ye are not under the law.[19] Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,[20]
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,
heresies,[21] Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God.[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,[23] Meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law.[24] And they that are Christ's
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.[25] If we live
in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Whenever you respond to an incident in your life, you will do well to ask
yourself the same question that God asked Jonah: “Did you do well to respond
that way? Did you respond by the works of the flesh or did you manifest the
fruits of the Spirit?” There is a human way to respond to what happens to you,
and there is a spiritual way. One of the challenges for a Christian is to learn
to have the fruits of the spirit instead of the works of the flesh.
God wanted Jonah
to learn to care about people. Evidently that was very important to God for
Jonah to learn such a lesson. Of course, that is important: because God cares
about people. And God cares about people’s souls. God said to Jonah in verse
10, “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.” Jonah was
upset that he lost that plant that was providing him shade and giving him
comfort. God pointed out that Jonah had done nothing to make that plant grow, and
so Jonah had nothing invested in it. The implication is that God had been
involved in the lives of the lost souls of
Look carefully
at what God said to Jonah in Jonah 4:12, “And should not I spare
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2014 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved