Jonah 4 "God Provides"

Jonah 4 Sermon Manuscript

When we talk about God’s provision in Christian circles it usually refers to some sort of help whether, material (make rent), physical (someone stepping up to help an elderly person take care of their yard) to our bodies (sleep through the night), intervening in crisis (way of escape), or even emotional and spiritual help. Whatever the provision is that we think of our thoughts tend go to positive things that God has done in the lives of individuals to help them out or make their life better in some way.

In the book of Jonah the phrase “God provided” is used four times. Once in 1:17 and three times in chapter 4, verse 6, 7 and 8. Looking at the surface, the things God provided Jonah don’t look to be of much help and some might say they are cruel or unkind provisions for Jonah, but as we take a closer look we can see how God has provided exactly what Jonah needs to teach him the lessons that could change his heart and shape Jonah into the man that God desires him to be.

Lessons are to be learned from to build our character and make us more like Christ. When my children are not making good choices, I will put things in their path or discipline in a way to cause correction, not because I enjoy the hardship they will go through as they learn the lesson or that I want to make things difficult in their lives, but I care more about their character than their comfort. I always desire what is best for my children and sometimes what is best is to learn the lesson the hard way, but the impact it has when they do learn it is life shaping. I think, especially for Americans, that ease and comfort are the greatest blessings, but actually it is those things that turn us to God and make us more like him that are the greatest blessings in our lives. And because we are drawn towards the easy and the comfortable, which typically leads to the opposite character desired in our lives, that change for the good in us seems to be provided by challenges, trials and hardships.

I can remember the summer before I went to college working with a girl I struggled being around, I knew she was planning on going to the same school I was and found out the week before school started that we were to be roommates. I was so frustrated and selfishly thought how unfair it was and just wanted nothing to do with her at the beginning of school, and the school I chose to go to was a bible college because I wanted to learn so much about God. I focused on all the issues she had and how hard it was to get along with her because she was so difficult. It turned out that she only stayed at that school for the first semester and what I realized afterwards was that I was the one who had the issues that needed to be worked through and that there was so much inside of my heart that needed to be refined. I was humbled and I did learn a lot about God, I learned how much He loved me and wanted to work out in my character things that were less than God honoring. Jeremiah 18:1-10

God desired to shape Jonah’s life into a reflection of Himself and He had to rethrow that lump of clay a few times to shape it for the use that God intended.

I am learning that the word provided means to be specifically assigned or appointed to do something, and this thing provided, appointed, destined, assigned is done by an authority over the situation or the physical creation itself; the one ultimately in charge i.e. God, King. This thing provided is not necessarily based on physical need, but rather a provision for a purpose, an appointment, something beyond what was at face value.

Provided implies a benefit to the one being provided for and at first glance it seems like not all the things that were provided for Jonah were a benefit, but in the spiritual sense and context of the story, there is a benefit to Jonah that is far beyond his physical needs. God is purposing things in Jonah’s life to cause the greatest good and that is to change his heart.

God provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, a leafy plant to give Jonah shade and ease his discomfort, a worm to wither the plant, and a scorching East wind and a sun that blazed so hot that Jonah grew faint. These things can seem in contrast with one another, one minute Jonah seems done for the next he is put in comfort, then back to misery again.

Each thing provided had a very specific purpose for the life of Jonah.

What were the specific purposes of each thing provided? To humble Jonah so that he could be brought to a teachable place and a softened heart that could be changed.

The huge fish provided seems representative of the mental, emotional and spiritual place that Jonah had come to, probably had been fighting with for a while considering Jonah’s first reaction to God’s command to go to Nineveh was immediate disobedience. His heart was already in a dark place. The fish was provided to humble Jonah.

The plant provided is what I see as part 1 of God’s love and grace through a lesson to open his eyes and heart towards others. Jonah built that shelter in anticipation of a nice long wait until God came through. If He told the Ninevites one day into the city, he had 39 days to wait for the wrath of God! He built a shelter to be nice and cozy in. And in God’s grace, God came over Jonah’s pathetic little shelter and almost in a way a mother would cover her child, God covered Jonah.

The worm God provided was part 2 of the lesson on compassion. Jonah had something that was the only good thing to happen to him in this whole chapter and that in contrast to his mental state of always wanting to die, actually made him “very happy.” In verse 10 we learn that Jonah felt concern over his dead plant, it held value to him. This concern for his plant dying was a picture of what Jonah should have felt towards all the people of Nineveh dying spiritually and physically.

There is also a picture of comparison in Jonah’s life with the plant. The death of the plant matches his constant calling out for his own death.

The scorching east wind and blazing sun seem to be an outward physical experience to match his inward anger and turmoil, just like the fish taking Jonah to the depths of despair, the heat almost killed him (which is what he claimed he wanted) and in comparison the anger in Jonah’s life was just as destructive. He was hot (tempered) and dry (spiritually) just like the desert he was sitting in.

In the satirical way Jonah is written, extremes in the story makes the reality of what Jonah was experiencing more poignant and relatable to the readers, as well as something to cause the reader to reflect on themselves.

The things provided by God were very intentional and great lengths were made by God to show Jonah that he mattered to him. The whole story of Jonah is God pulling out all the stops to get Jonah’s attention and to show him that not only does he have compassion on the Ninevites, but he also has love and compassion on a stubborn, religious man that has hardened his heart to the great love of God. God had placed a call on Jonah’s heart to be spokesman for himself and God never withdrew that calling, Jonah was made for a purpose and God purposed and provided a lot to show him that.

God has a purpose for those who know him, God wants to use us for those around us to know him.

If you run from God, he doesn’t just let you go, that’s why people have to keep on running. Those things in our life that may seem to take us on a roller coaster of emotions, are God’s provisions, appointed specifically for us to humble ourselves and turn our hearts back to God.

It is not the non-religious person that God is having to pursue in the book of Jonah, he is pursuing one who claims he is a believer in God. Usually when we think of God pursuing it’s after those who don’t know him, which he does, but Jonah KNOWS God, this is not some unrepentant sinner…or is it? How easy is it to hide behind the piety of faith and to harden our hearts to the things God truly wants for his believers? Too easy sometimes! Let Jonah be a wake-up call to the church, let us look and see if God is “providing” those things to make us uncomfortable, to make us humble ourselves! Let us not just cry out in anger against the things we can not stand and the things that don’t fit into our comfortable agenda but let us learn the lessons God graciously appoints for his people! And how wonderful that even when the church seems to be running away from God in disobedience, he works through us and brings salvation to those who do not know him!

And yet, God will not give up on his church, he loves his people and each person who calls on the name of the Lord matters!