Jonah: The Sovereignty of God’s Grace

Bible Passage: Jonah 4:1–11

Introduction

Jonah and the Whale Joke

One day, a teacher was talking to her first grade class about whales when a little girl had a question.

Little Girl: “Do whales swallow people?”

Teacher: “No, even though they are much bigger than a person, they have throat pleats that filter their food of krill and plankton.

Little Girl: “But Mrs. Thurston says Jonah was swallowed by a whale.”

Teacher getting angry: “Blue whales cannot swallow people.”

Little Girl: “Well, when I get to heaven I’ll just ask Jonah if he was really swallowed by a whale.”

Teacher, still red with anger: “What if Jonah didn’t go to heaven?”

Girl: “Well, then you can ask him.”

Never let anyone tell you God doesn’t have a sense of humor. In fact, He not only has one, he has a GREAT sense of humor! We don’t always see it though because most of the time, while God’s humor is on full display, it’s often directed at teaching us valuable lessons about Himself or us.

Personally, I don’t think there’s anywhere in Scripture that paints a better picture of God’s sense of humor while teaching someone a lesson that in Chapter 4 of Jonah.

Chapter 3 Recap

After repenting of his rebellion against God, Jonah finally makes it to Nineveh and preaches the message God instructed him to say and to everyone’s surprise, the Ninevites heard the message, believed God, and…GASP…repented of their evil ways!

What’s worse—in Jonah’s eyes anyway—this happened:

Jonah 3:10 “10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

And as we’re about to see, Jonah was none to happy about it.

Open your Bibles to Jonah chapter 4 and while you turn, let’s pray…PRAY

Now the first thing we’re going to look at in chapter 4 is…

1. Jonah's Bitter Heart

Jonah 4:1–3 ESV

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Yowza! Does that sound like a big cry baby or what? I’m imagining a bit of a temper tantrum here. Stomping of feet. Hands clinched at his sides. Pouty downturned lips. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair! It’s not fair!”

Verse 1 - The literal translation of the Hebrew conveys something like this: “But it was evilly evil to Jonah, and he was angry.”

Doesn’t that sound like something a petulant child might think?

“I hate you, daddy! You’re nothing but a mean meanypants!”

A dear friend of mine has been going through a very difficult situation. The situation has become so troubling to her that she’s admitted to being angry with God over it.

Here’s the thing: It’s not a sin to question God. It’s not even a sin to be angry with Him from time to time (we’re humans and we can’t see the BIG picture like He can).

Look at many of the Psalms! Many of them start off with questioning God. Some even show frustration or even anger with him.

Case in point?

Psalm 77:7–9 ESV

7 “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? 8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

This Psalm, written by Asaph, certainly shows frustration, right? Maybe even a little anger? Something bad is happening to Asaph and he’s now doubting that God is even trying to help. But hold on a minute…let’s keep reading. Like most Psalms of this nature, it doesn’t conclude with the human’s lack of faith in God’s “steadfast love.”

Psalm 77:10–14 ESV

10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.” 11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.

Look, it’s okay to be angry with God. For a spell. But the phrase in verse 8 of this Psalm, “steadfast love” should have been a clue for Asaph from the get-go. Steadfast love is from the Hebrew word “Kesed.” There’s no English equivalent for this word. It’s a covenantal word focused on divine love…meaning God’s love is a covenant to us. It’s unbreakable. It’s unstoppable. It is unconditional love in the purest form.

Asaph gets to the truth of this by the end of the Psalm.

Notice what he says in Verse 11: “I will REMEMBER the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will REMEMBER your wonders of old.

Other words Asaph used:

Ponder all your work

Meditate on your mighty deeds

Asaph was wise. When he was down…when he was depressed and anxious and feeling abandoned by God, he did the best thing he could do:

He worshipped God despite his circumstances!

And here’s the thing about Asaph: If he hadn’t figured it out…if He hadn’t wisely worked out his emotions…his heart would have plummeted into bitterness.

Jonah is at the very edge of bitterness right now! He’s angry at God for forgiving the Ninevites. So angry, in fact, that he’d rather die than to face this new reality of Nineveh continuing to exist.

Before we pass judgment on Jonah, consider this. As a prophet of God, he MIGHT have known what was going to happen to Israel and Judah at the hands of the Assyrians 150 years from this point.

He might have been lamenting the fact that with Nineveh still existing, the future of Israel and Judah was now up in the air.

He should have known better. If God could change the hearts of the Assyrians now and spare their capital city, God could just as easily do the same in 150 years to save Jonah’s homeland.

And yet, Jonah was all about indulging in his own pity party.

And his heart began to grow bitter.

Let’s look at how God handled it. God had every right to be angry right back at Jonah, amen? He had every right to bring His wrath down on this rebellious prophet with a bad attitude. And yet, let’s take a look at…

2. God's Gentle Challenge

Jonah 4:4–9 ESV

4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” 5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord 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. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

Look how God responds. He asks a simple question: Do you do well to be angry?

NASB: Do you have a good reason to be angry?

CSB: Is it right for you to be angry?

The Apostle Paul pretty much understood this and instructed the Romans to consider pretty much the same thing, using Moses as an example:

Romans 9:15–16 ESV

15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Truth is, Jonah would have been very familiar with this reference (Exodus 33:19). He no doubt would have been able to quote it verbatim. And yet…his anger began to consume him so much he couldn’t think straight.

And with God’s simple question, He’s pretty much just asking Jonah to reflect on his attitude before he said or did something he’d regret.

We probably should do this more often in our own lives. Before we lash out (whether God or anyone else), it’s probably a good idea to stop, breathe, and reflect on whether or not our anger is just.

In other words, our mamas taught us to count to ten, right? Maybe we should be listening to them.

But God’s not finished with his gentle rebuke yet. While Jonah is stewing on it all, the prophet leaves the city, walks up to a nearby hill, and takes a seat to watch any fireworks that might still happen (I’m sure he’s hoping God will change his mind and destroy the city anyway).

The sun is high on that hill. It gets hot. So, God, in his compassion ‘appoints’ a vine to grow over Jonah to give him some shade and make his vigil a little more comfortable.

That’s nice, right? A little comfort to help Jonah’s anger simmer (while the passage says Jonah was glad for the vine, it doesn’t give any indication that his wrath has ebbed).

Then, night falls. And God ‘appoints’ a worm to come in and eat the vine overnight! [Notice the word ‘appoint’…with the vine and with the worm…it’s the same word used when God ‘appointed’ the great fish.]

Jonah wakes up the next morning to find the sun burning down on him without any shade. It’s sweltering! And Jonah suddenly finds himself miserable.

All of a sudden, Jonah—who had been pleased with God for providing the vine yesterday—is angry with God because the shade had been taken away from him overnight.

Once again, Jonah’s bitterness is building and he proclaims he’d be better of dead than his current circumstances!

Talk about EMO!

And once again, God offers a gentle rebuke to Jonah.

“Do you do well to be angry over the plant?”

This time, Jonah has an answer: Yes! I’m justified in my anger!”

And of course, God has the perfect response in the next few verses in which will discover…

3. God's Perfect Sovereignty

Jonah 4:10–11 ESV

10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

BLINK. [Glance around the room as if utterly confused.] BLINK again. Pick up your Bible and pull it close as if you’re re-reading it silently for a few seconds because you’re utterly confused.

This has got to be one of the oddest conclusions to any book in the Bible.

Jonah 4:11 “11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?””

Some scholars think this refers to children (who can’t tell their right hands from their left), which would make the total population of Nineveh around 600,000 people in all.

Others think it simply means spiritually naive, but not innocent. Unlike the Israelites, the people of Nineveh haven’t enjoyed a close relationship with Jehovah and therefore, are just starting to understand God’s true nature.

No matter the meaning, one thing is clear: Jonah didn’t create the vine, therefore had no say in whether it existed or not. The same was true for the people of Nineveh. As Paul pointed out, God will have mercy on who He chooses and will have compassion on those He chooses as well.

This reminds me of the story of the scientist who challenges God:

A scientist approaches God and says, "We don't need You anymore. Science can now create a human from scratch!"

God replies, "Oh, is that so? Let's have a man-making contest like in the old days."

The scientist agrees and bends down to grab a handful of dirt, but God interrupts: "No, go get your own dirt!"

There is nothing in this world that is solely a result of us. Our children…came to us by God’s hand. Our wealth…we are ABLE to work because God provides the ability. Our friends, family, health, intelligence, talents, etc…ALL come from God.

God’s odd mention of the cattle at the end of the passage is a reminder of that. Jonah was upset that God provided a vine and that it had died. God reminds Jonah that a vine isn’t as important as cattle and it’s definitely not as important as 120,000+ souls that God created and has chosen to love!

Aren’t you glad that we, as people, have no control who God saves and who He doesn’t? How would it be if our enemies had God’s ear and could persuade Him NOT to grant us mercy? Not to extend grace to us? Amen?

Aren’t you glad God’s compassion and love for us is NOT based on what we do or don’t do?

Friends, it doesn’t matter if we’re “good” or if we’re “bad.” It doesn’t matter what we’ve done in the past. God would far rather forgive us than bring judgment on us. That’s why at every turn, God provides a way out of judgment. From Genesis through the Book of Revelation, He has provided the means in which to escape His wrath.

That way is Jesus Christ. Jesus has provided the way out.

All we have to do is follow the example of the Ninevites.

Hear and believe

Repent

Live out that repentance every day.

Let’s pray.