A Heart Like God’s
Jonah 4:1-11
C. S. Lewis wrote, We are all.…under construction. Naturally, there’s unfinished lumber showing here and there -- protruding nails and unsightly scaffolding -- but it’s still clear that
a work is in progress, that the Builder has committed Himself to bringing this building into conformity with the “blue-printer“. Even though we’re not finished, He is at work, and we can rely on that. God’s objective in building us remains: that we be available and useful to Him.
I trust the book of Jonah has reminded you of that truth -- that God isn’t finished yet. We’ve seen how God is unexpectedly merciful -- to people who certainly don’t deserve His mercy. And He is merciful to people, who -- if we were in charge -- would get judged swiftly and for good. The Ninevites were people like that. And of course, so was Jonah.
We’ve learned that Jonah is a prophet who earlier had served God effectively and well. But when God dispatched him to take His message to the hated brutes in Nineveh, this one-time good servant jumped into a boat and proceeded to Spain, 2000 miles in the opposite direction. Out there on the Mediterranean, Jonah had a face-to-face with God. God sent an intense storm -- one bad enough that experienced sailors pleaded for their lives. Then when they discovered they had a backslidden preacher with them, at his insistence, they tossed him overboard.
Jonah knew he was running from God -- and apparently he would have rather died than obey. When he was hurled into the sea, everyone, including Jonah, thought it was the end. God had other plans. He sent a huge fish to gulp Jonah down -- and for two reasons:
One, to save him from drowning, and,
two, to give Jonah some time to pray and think things through.
Three days later, after Jonah prayed, God had the fish spit Jonah up on the beach. God commissioned him the second time -- Go to Nineveh. Deliver My message. This time, Jonah went. God at last got Jonah doing what He had wanted from the beginning.
But his heart was still not in it. Now no pun intended, but many of us are in the same boat as Jonah. And depending on the issue, we will either conveniently ignore God’s assignments or we’ll obey grudgingly. We will often obey outwardly, but our heart isn’t engaged. Today we see again, God is never content with my mechanical obedience. He wants my heart.
In chapters 1 and 2, God got Jonah’s attention. In chapter 3 He got his behavior. Here in chapter four, God goes after Jonah’s heart. Let’s watch how He does that.
First, 1. God probes Jonah’s angry response. (4:1, 9)
Two times in chapter 4, God lays His finger on the rage Jonah displays over God’s mercy on the Ninevites. In verse 4 -- again in verse 9 -- God’s persistent question comes.
First, Do you have a good reason to be angry? Then again: Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant? We learned already that Jonah’s anger has two objects: First,
He’s angry at God‘s mercy.
We looked ahead the first week and read 4:2. We discover that Jonah abhorred even the possibility that God might be merciful to the Ninevites. He tells God, that’s why I didn’t want to come to begin with! He had suspected that God might just forgive these hard-core, murderous, idol-worshiping pagans. And Jonah’s standards were “higher” than that -- higher than God’s!
Sort of like our standards, when we cannot -- will not -- forgive the person who hurt us.
Jonah is a proud Jew -- one of God’s chosen people. The Ninevites are vicious, cruel and idolatrous enemies. In his worldview, they had no claim to the benefits which come from knowing the True God. And now, as God simply sets aside His plan to destroy the city, Jonah is enraged. Along with that, in reality,
He’s angry at God.
When you read that powerful description of God in verse 2 -- you have to assume -- Jonah knows God’s character. But your ability to rehearse a list of God’s attributes doesn’t influence your heart. Despite Jonah’s list, He revolts at God’s exhibition of His character. Jonah has head knowledge, but his heart rejects God’s demonstrated compassion.
The LORD asks, Do you do well to be angry? You’ll notice God doesn’t respond to Jonah’s anger with His own. There’s no thundering rebuke -- just God’s probing, heart-revealing question. God ignores his death wish -- instead He lays his anger under the microscope. He presses His suicidal prophet to take a close look at his willful anger.
Think about it. If anyone had a right to be angry with the Ninevites, it was God -- God Who hates sin and violence and idolatry. But God chooses here to give mercy and forgiveness. Part of God’s question might be, “who are you, to be angry when I choose not to judge?”
In Deuteronomy 32:35, God declares, vengeance is mine. Judgment is always God’s call, never ours.
We play God too -- when we harbor anger toward people -- when we decide to take someone punishment into own hands -- when we respond to people’s sin with our own nasty attitudes -- vindictive words, other forms of hostility.
We play God when we refuse to forgive, even though Scripture says as you have been forgiven by God in Christ, so you forgive. We much prefer justice, for others. So God asks us a question too: "Is that your privilege?" The only answer is: "No, Lord, it is Yours, not mine.
I do not do well to be angry. I have no right to judgmental anger!"
That’s not how Jonah responds. When God asks a second time in verse 9: do you have good reason to be angry, God gets an answer. It’s not direct -- it’s as if Jonah measures his anger -- I’m angry enough to die. Again, it seems to be his choice not to live under a God whose compassion is so much more expansive than his heart can grasp.
God holds Jonah’s face to the mirror of his anger. He probes Jonah’s heart so He can then reveal Truth to him. God’s Spirit and Word often open our hearts so we can see ourselves as we are and be prepared for the Truth.
After the challenge,
2. God presents Jonah with an object lesson. (4:5-8)
Verse 5: Jonah left the city and sat to the east of the it; he made himself a shelter for shade. He sat there under the shade until he could see what God would do.
It would appear, after God’s question, that Jonah turns on his heels and walks away. He didn’t provide a direct question, but his defiant attitude and action tell us what he’s thinking. He goes out east of the city, builds a lean-to and parks himself under it to watch the city.
He needs shade -- remember, he’s bleached white and probably hairless by the fish’s stomach acid. The hot desert sun will burn him. There he sits, watching, probably hoping the Ninevites’ conversion will be short-lived and they’ll go right back to their wickedness. Then he’d be right and God would be wrong. He might be thinking, "You can’t trust those Ninevites. Once a Ninevite, always a Ninevite. God, You’re way to hasty with your policy of blanket forgiveness. Give ’em a little time, they’ll hang themselves." He apparently wants a ringside seat where he can watch the fire and brimstone fall.
There’s a huge contrast here between God’s man, sitting on that hill and sulking in his little shelter. The contrast is to the king of Nineveh. The king left the pomp of his throne, took off his royal robes, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. He mourns over his sin and his people‘s sin, while Jonah sits thinking, “they all deserve to die!!” Two leaders, sitting in very different places, each with a very different view of what God is about.
How often we give up on people -- and long before God does.
Then comes the object lesson.
God appointed a plant, and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm to attack the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a sultry east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he was faint....
This is hard stuff. And we need to see that far from being vindictive or mean, this is God, loving Jonah steadfast, persisting in his development, in spite of rage, in spite of his nasty little retreat to the hillside above the city. This is God not giving up -- even on a pouting servant. Just like He pursued him with a storm and a fish, now He arranges a plant to grow, then a worm, then a sultry east wind.
We’ve already seen God has turn and change the forces of creation to change Jonah’s behavior -- now He does the same to transform Jonah’s heart. The lesson is -- God does not spare pain nor harsh circumstances to get you precisely where He wants you and to possess the throne room of your life, and to make you useful.
Jonah’s lean-to gave him minimal shade. God’s miraculously-growing, large green plant gave him a lot. But God’s purpose was more than Jonah’s comfort. There’s word play going on in Hebrew. The word shade has two meanings -- one is "shade" -- the other is "deliverance" or "salvation".
The same is true with the term translated discomfort; it also can mean evil or wickedness.
So a Hebrew reader would have heard two different ideas simultaneously in each word. Literally, God is sending the plant to shade him from his discomfort under the hot sun; but also to rescue him from his own wicked anger. God’s good gift doesn’t just keep Jonah from sunburn, it’s meant to teach him very personally and practically about God’s undeserved grace and compassion.
Jonah reacts: verse 6 says he was absolutely delighted about that shading plant. That’s the one time in the whole book when Jonah’s happy about anything. And of course we notice that his happiness is wrapped up in personal comfort. He’s delighted with the shade, but still, there’s no care or compassion about people -- despite God’s compassion for him. So, because Jonah won’t connect God’s grace toward him with grace toward Nineveh, God sends a worm to attack his plant and take away his shade.
The follow-up is a 110+ degree wind that comes blasting off the desert and soon dehydrates him. The shade is gone; the sun beats down intensely. It’s like God is saying, "If you want to persist in angry rebellion, I’ll heat things up so you’ll get My point." Jonah is described as faint from the sun; he’s close to heat stroke. Again, he prays for death -- it is better than life.
It’s in that moment that
3. God reveals His heart to Jonah. (4:10, 11)
The closing words are God‘s -- then the account of Jonah is over. No more responses from the prophet. We’re left to wonder -- did Jonah repent? Did he ever get it? I have an idea that he did, because he’s the one who recorded this for us.
God speaks to His stubborn servant. You had compassion on a plant for which you did not work, and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.
And should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?
God clarifies Jonah’s experience with the plant. Again, He holds up His mirror of Truth and shows Jonah the sad, sorry state of his heart. “This is what you’re like, My man: You get all excited and glad and grateful for My blessing -- for that plant for which you did no work at all. That plant was My gift of grace to you. I put it there; I made it grow. And you so much enjoyed the benefit of what I did.”
Then God asks the toughest question of all:
"Should I not be compassionate toward people whom I created?"
You did nothing to create that plant. But hear this: those people in that city are the special creative work of My hands. Each one I knit together before they were ever born. They’re mine by the Sovereign right of creation. And if that doesn’t resonate with you, realize that
among the population of 600,000 there are 120,000 children. They’re the ones who don’t yet know the difference between their right and left hands. They didn’t choose to be born to hard core pagans. The children and the animals would have died for the sin of others, if My judgment had fallen.
The question is rhetorical. God doesn’t expect an answer -- this is a heart-probing, tough-as-nails question. Should I not be compassionate on them? You rightly call me a God of compassion. I’ve shown compassion and mercy toward you.
God has Jonah right where He wants him -- He’s got a grip on his heart.
I trust He’s got us as well.
Steps I will take
I find it easy to think, “I’m better than Jonah.” Because -- I really do care about people.
At least some people…some of the time. I care about people, but -- in the end -- and here’s the dirty little secret we all share. In the end, I care a whole lot more about temporary things than I do about people. People last forever, and they’re what God cares about.
We’re often more about -- stuff -- temporary stuff. Positions. Plans. Possessions. Work. They rank higher than people. I go to the dry cleaners and I’m more concerned with making sure I get everything than about the person who gets it for me. My shirts will get dirty again but people’s souls will last forever.
The same at the gas station or the grocery store or the restaurant. It’s so much simpler to focus on stuff -- and on me -- than on people all around me. I go to the supermarket and there’s usually a guy begging at the traffic light. It’s easy to see him as someone I wish wasn’t there.
We turn on the TV and there’s misery all over the world. Suicide bombings. A massive earthquake or hurricane -- cities, villages and poor people’s homes all gone.
One pastor said he isn’t as concerned anymore about how much people know -- because you can know all the right things -- even about the character of God -- but it doesn’t necessarily change your heart. He said now he cares more now about what people care about than how much they know. We can know and believe that people need Jesus Christ -- but caring about them personally is what will make us useble in helping them come to know Him.
I heard of a man who asked God to let him see people like God sees them. God answered his prayer, but after a short time, he asked God to stop. Because it hurt too much -- it cost him too much comfort. The second time he prayed that, he also asked God to give Him the strength to maintain that compassion for people.
What do you care most about? Are you willing to pursue God’s heart for people? Will you spend some time meditating on Jonah, and especially on God’s question at the end of the book? Will you ask God, “probe my heart!” If you’re serious, I’ll give you two passages to jot down -- they will press the issue. Read them, memorize them, meditate on them.
One is Matthew 23:37, where you see Christ’s heart for Jerusalem come out. The other is Romans 10:1, where Paul wrote about his fellow Jews, ….my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they might be saved. Study those two passages. Ask God to make you like that. Ask God that you might begin to see people like He sees them. And that your compassion would be like His.
