When I completed the devotional about listening, witnessing, and rejoicing, my heart went to a situation of my own and how I was struggling with what God was saying to me through Jonah. Yes, I want to make heaven my home. Yes, I want to hear God say, “Well done…” and yet, it is quite difficult to wholeheartedly lean into appreciating the mercy handed to my “Ninevites.”
It’s one thing to know what to do, and it’s another thing entirely to do it! Jonah, bogged down by his doggedness of being “justified”, wouldn’t let go of the notion that the Ninevites didn’t deserve mercy, while he did. Yet God continued working in Jonah about that very issue. This wasn’t a minor misstep in Jonah’s thinking. Everything about his outlook on Nineveh was grounded in the falsehood that they shouldn’t receive mercy.
It angered Jonah all the more when God granted them mercy. However, God dug deeper into Jonah’s heart by using the gourd, the worm, the wind, and the scorching sun to bring Jonah face to face with the mercy he had received compared to the mercy the Ninevites enjoyed. God was working to bring Jonah to a place where he could talk through his trauma and fully engage in authentic communication.
Sometimes God uses an illustration that seems so distant from the issue at hand. He did it with David, Nathan, and a story Nathan shared about a lamb, its owner, and a wealthy man who confiscated the precious lamb, killed it, and fed it to a traveler-friend of his.
Ah, David, upon hearing about the injustice, rendered quick judgment on the wealthy owner. Nathan waited until David finished detailing the man’s punishment. Then he spoke four words that rocked David to his core: “Thou art the man.”
Jonah found himself in a similar situation. Only this time, God asked him, “So it is right for you to receive mercy, but wrong for Nineveh to receive it?”
The Lord addresses difficult situations and draws us into the conversation because they must be dealt with. Not as a moderator between two opposing groups/people. But as a loving father and counselor who knows we cannot be healed without working through those treacherous areas called “emotions.”
Being healed is a process, and sometimes that process requires us to face ourselves and our positions on the matter and then work through it with the best counselor we could have — our Lord. So, yes, I can totally understand why we aren’t given Jonah’s response – perhaps because he was still processing the story….
In the end, whether we know where Jonah ended up on the subject isn’t nearly as important as the conversation God has with us.
12 And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; (2 Kings 12:1-7 KJV)
4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.2 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.3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.4 Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?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.6 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.9 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? (Jonah 4:1-11 KJV)
In the Master’s Service,
Author/Pastor Michele D Robertson
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matthew 11:28-29 (KJV)