I Am Jonah – Jonah 4

The Unexpected Grace of God: Lessons from Jonah’s Anger

Have you ever felt angry at God for showing kindness to someone you thought didn’t deserve it? Or perhaps you’ve questioned why God would bless others while you struggle? If so, you’re not alone. The story of Jonah teaches us valuable lessons about God’s grace and our own hearts.

The Surprising Story of Jonah

Jonah is one of my favorite Old Testament books. As I’ve studied it, I’ve realized it’s not just a story about a prophet who ran from God. It’s a story about me – and about you. 

“We are Jonah,” I want to tell you. This story “is about how we respond to God’s call on our lives and how we respond to the grace in our lives and the lives of others and really what we truly care about. You see, the story of Jonah is about our hearts.”

Setting the Scene: Jonah and Nineveh

To understand the story, we need to grasp who Jonah was and who the Ninevites were. Jonah was likely a popular prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel around the mid-8th century BC. Nineveh, on the other hand, was part of the Assyrian empire – a constant threat to Israel.

“Imagine that you are a young Jewish child living in Poland in the 1920s and the 1930s, and then God calls you to go to Germany and to declare a message to the German people that in 40 days he’s going to destroy their nation because of the evil they had done and they were doing. In essence, this is what God has done to Jonah.”

Jonah’s Anger at God’s Grace

After reluctantly delivering God’s message to Nineveh, Jonah becomes furious when the people repent and God shows them mercy. In Jonah 4:1-3, we read:

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, is this not what I said when I was yet in my country? This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.'”

Why Was Jonah Angry?

Jonah’s anger stemmed from two main reasons:

1. He hated the Ninevites and didn’t believe they deserved God’s mercy.
2. He thought he knew better than God.

“How often do we do the same thing?” I ask. “When God does something that we don’t think is right, or he gives us an opportunity to declare his grace and salvation to others, we act like Jonah.”

God’s Lesson Through a Plant

God uses a simple object lesson to teach Jonah – and us – about His grace. He causes a plant to grow, providing shade for Jonah, and then destroys it. When Jonah becomes angry about the plant, God asks him a pointed question:

“And the Lord said, ‘You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?'” (Jonah 4:10–11)

The Heart of the Matter

The book of Jonah ends with this question, leaving us to ponder our own hearts. “The text is not primarily about Jonah either,” I explain. “It’s about us and it’s about our hearts.”

God’s question to us is clear: What do you love? What do you hate? What are you concerned about? Do your concerns match God’s?

Putting It Into Practice

As we close, I urge you to examine your own heart:

1. Look at your motivations and fears.
2. Examine your willingness to obey God.
3. Consider if you harbor resentment towards specific people or groups.

Remember, “Grace is not earned, but it is given to those who know they don’t deserve it.”

Let’s pray that God will change our hearts, helping us to love our neighbors and declare His goodness to all – even those we might consider undeserving. May we, unlike Jonah, rejoice in God’s work, regardless of our personal feelings towards those He blesses.