1But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm. 3Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4Yahweh said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
As we’ve seen throughout this series, God is at work in the heart of Jonah. Despite his many experiences of grace, Jonah continues to walk in bitterness and desires destruction for his enemies rather than repentance. When we take an honest inventory of our own lives, we find that we struggle with the same tendency today. All too often, we desire God’s gifts for ourselves while hoping He refrains from giving them to others, especially those we dislike.
At this point, Jonah has completed the task God set before him, albeit begrudgingly. Even more, it was a huge success. Nineveh heard the word of God and responded rightly. Both God’s response and Jonah’s give us insight into the character of their hearts.
He had the right information, but the wrong disposition. What pleased God angered Jonah.
Despite having experienced God’s grace repeatedly, when the Ninevites repent Jonah accuses God of unfairly distributing His grace to Jonah’s enemies.
Like the story of Jonah, God regularly shows kindness toward sinners, but not so that we can remain in our sin. God extends His kindness to lead us into repentance from our sin (Rom. 2:4).
Sin is sinister. We are prone to wander into self-centeredness, sometimes to the point of viewing God’s blessing to others with anger, like Jonah. The grace of God knows no boundaries and no matter how hard we try, we cannot control His compassion for others. Rather, God extends His kindness to us to provide us with the opportunity to pursue repentance. Even more, He is willing to answer certain prayers with a “no” to keep us from further harm to ourselves. Most of us like what God says from a distance. When He calls us into action, our hearts are exposed and the real work of life with Christ begins. No matter where you find yourself today, no matter how difficult obedience seems, remember the kindness of God as He leads you into selfless freedom.