After he obeys God, goes into the city, which should take 3 days journey but it only takes him 1 day, proclaim God's judgement, he's angry because God has mercy on the people of Ninevah. The people of Ninevah quickly repented and fasted as opposed to Jonah, when God called him the first time. God had mercy on the both of them but, for some reason, Jonah is upset that God had mercy on Ninevah. He leaves the city to go pout and watches the city to see what God might do, but He does nothing... so Jonah is upset.
God allows a gourd to grow to extreme proportions and Jonah is happy again. Then the Lord allows a worm to decay the gourd and it withers. Jonah wakes up and begins to pout again.
Jonah is a selfish, spoil, brat! Easy for me to say eh? (sounds like "A") I'll be honest with you... Jonah irritates me. (lol) He's what we call an E.G.R. person= Extra Grace Required person.
I do praise God that Jonah irritates me because it allows me to search within my heart to see if some of Jonah's issues are found in my heart. From where I'm standing... sitting... I see how God showed His love and mercy for a fearful, distrusting, weak sinner and chose to use him to deliver THOUSANDS of people. I have not had the personal experience of the latter, I can only imagine what it would be like to bring 60,000 people to Christ! i wouldn't be pouting, I would be doing a dance similar to David's ... not a pretty sight may I add ... but the rejoicing would be so overwhelming that I would not be able to contain it. Having the honour of being used, a sinner like me, to bring 60,000 people to Christ! hELLo!
Snap out of it Jonah... (yeah, I know he can't hear me... lol)
There's three things I want to remember from Jonah:
- Never be afraid to trust God
- Never underestimate Hi provision
- Always rejoice at the sight of God's mercy for me and especially for others
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