26 The Prophet's Lamenting Series

# 26 – The Prophet’s Lamenting

Jonah 4:1-4 – “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 2 So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. 3 Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” 4 Then the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

1 “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry….”

Jonah preached, and the King and the people repented. When they repented, God relented from sending on them the punishment He had planned. When God relented, Jonah lamented. The first reaction by Jonah to God relenting was that of exceeding displeasure and anger. Those are perhaps two of the least expected emotions from a man of God in response to God relenting on pouring out his wrath on people.

Jonah’s attitude to the people of Nineveh is in total contrast to that of Abraham and Moses. Abraham pleaded for the people of Sodom and Moses pleaded for the people of Israel when God planned to destroy them. While Abraham and Moses seemed to have the people of Sodom and the people of Israel in mind, Jonah seemed to have just one person in mind – himself.

The questions that beg to be answered by us, The Church are:

• How concerned are we about the world around us?

• Are we concerned for them enough to do all we can to see them saved or are we comfortably and complacently lost in our own little worlds, where we, like Jonah, are at the centre of everything and no one else matters?

• What would our reaction be if we saw the Lord reveal Himself to the world around in such a way that millions started pouring into The Church?

• Would we rejoice with them or would we lament on account of their repentance?

2 So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country?

No sooner Jonah feels exceeding displeasure and anger, he speaks – much like most of us today. We either, think and speak or we feel and speak. Sometimes the gap between thinking, feeling, and speaking is so small, that one wonders whether there was any thinking involved at all. Jonah begins to pray. While, on the surface, that sounds like a nice thing to do when one is upset or angry, what matters really, is the kind of prayer we pray at that time. Jonah prays, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country?”

It looks like Jonah had had this conversation with God when God spoke to him the first time, even before he rebelliously left for Tarshish to try to flee from God’s presence. Here he reminds God of that conversation, (as if God would have forgotten it). What Jonah seems to be saying, in essence, is, “Lord, I told you so, I knew you would do this.”

Before we get all judgmental about Jonah, let’s pause for a moment and ask ourselves what we might have done had each of us been in Jonah’s shoes. Imagine we’ve spent three full days warning the people that God’s wrath would fall on them in 40 days and then God changes His mind. What thoughts would have raced through our minds? How would we have felt and what might we have done? I would have felt embarrassed and ashamed of myself because God did not send the punishment I had so vehemently warned the people was coming. I would have felt like a false prophet and a liar. I might even have fear a reaction from the king and the people after nothing happened to them when the 40 days had elapsed. I’m sure I’m not the only one who would have thought and felt that way.

2b “Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.

Despite Jonah repenting of his rebellion from within the belly of the fish, he then begins to justify his initial rebellion, thus paving the way for another one to follow. When we justify past sins, we set the stage for a repetition of them, in the near future. Jonah says that it’s because he knew God would change his mind that he decided on a pre-emptive escapade in the first place.