Jonah 4 Selfish Servant

Jonah 4 ESV

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 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. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” 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. 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. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 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.” 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.” 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. 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?”

Continue to look at Jonah.

He has been on quite a journey. And as we get to the last chapter of this journey we can’t help but be a little bit disappointed.

Jonah’s reaction doesn’t sound very much like what we consider to be a prophet from God.

Jonah’s reaction doesn’t sound very much like what we would expect from a prophet from God. We know God is loving, he loves sinners but Jonah isn’t really on board with God’s plan. He hasn’t been from the beginning has he?

He is angry and offended that the Ninevites, the evil Ninevites have humbled themselves before God.

Listen, if you want to get on God’s good side, humble yourself before Him. Recognize that God is above you and that you belong under Him.

Jonah isn’t humble at all towards these people.

But God moves when people are humble.

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

James 4:10 ESV

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

This is not the picture of Jonah in chapter 4

The first verse says that Jonah is exceedingly angry.

Why would this offend Jonah so much? Remember that this group of people were pretty evil. Also, they were not Jews. This is kind of out of character for any prophet to go to a group of people other than Jews. God has always prophesied to the Jews about themselves and about how God was going to deal with them. How God would bless them.

God is sending Jonah to a group outside of the Jews to give them the opportunity to repent. This is unprecedented.

And the people, like we talked about last week. Submit to, humble themselves before God. Jonah knows what this humble attitude does for God and the verse says that he is exceedingly angry.

Jonah’s reaction to all of this is that he accuses God.

Jonah even uses Scripture to condemn God in verse 2

Jonah 4:2 ESV

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.

You ever been mad at anyone for being nice? For being good? It’s just weird isn’t it?

What we need to remember is where these words come from. Jonah is using words to accuse God with the words that God uses to describe Himself to Moses In

Explain , the context of Moses and the people who were worshiping the golden calf.

Moses was sent to the top of the mountain to get the 10 commandments. While he was up there the people made a golden calf and worshiped it. Moses got really mad at them because of this sin and was meeting with God.

Moses asks God to show him His glory. Moses is saying to God, I want to see you with my eyes and God says, you can’t, it would kill you, But I will walk by you and cover you so that you see the back of me. And when God does this he says this to moses about Himself in , revealing something about himself.

Exodus 34:6 ESV

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

This sets a precedent of who God is. Slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. So now you see this all over the Old Testament.

Nehemiah, Psalms in multiple places, the prophet Joel. This is God’s self description and the prophets and the writers recognize that and are quoting God’s words when they talk about it.

Nehemiah, Psalms in multiple places, the prophet Joel. This is God’s self description and the prophets and the writers recognize that and are quoting God’s words when they talk about it.

Jonah is complaining about it.

So God asks Jonah a question

Jonah 4:4 ESV

And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

God could have railed him. God could have called fire down on him. But God is using a teaching method. He asks Jonah a question.

Jonah doesn’t answer. He goes

Jonah 4:5 ESV

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.

We don’t know the timeline here. Some think that after preaching Jonah went outside the city hoping to witness God’s wrath on them. Remember, Jonahs prophecy was “40 days and the city will be overthrown”. Maybe, just maybe he will see another Sodom and Gomorrah kind of show.

Jonah makes a little shelter which would have been a three walled shelter, probably of rocks. No trees/ No roof.

Then we see the God over creation again.

Jonah 4:6 ESV

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.

Here is that word again, “Appoint”, which means that God made it happen. God who gave a job to a giant fish also commands a seed to grow over the head of this suffering sulking servant to give him shade when he clearly had a horrible attitude.

This is the first time we read that Jonah is happy. Why is he happy? He has this large plant growing up over him to give him shade because he is in the hot dry desert. The sun is beating down on him.

This plant comes up out of nowhere and Jonah recognizes it as God’s blessing. And he is happy.

It’s easy to be happy when we are being blessed, isn’t it? We love it when God the blessing machine takes care of us. It’s great.

When things are going great we are happy. When God blesses us we are happy. We get really happy with God’s blessings and can even find ourselves idolizing God’s blessings.

But be cautioned. As Spurgeon wrote: Don’t let your gourd become your God, but let your gourd lead you to God. Whenever our comforts become our idols, they work our ruin. But when those blessings point us to God, they become messengers from God to help us grow in grace.

Do you get that this morning? God’s blessings are supposed to point us to HIM. God blesses you with financial success, praise God! God because of your blessing I can be generous to those in need. I can be generous with you because of your blessings.

God, you blessed me with the ability to teach, I will use that gift to teach others about you.

God, you have blessed me with strength, I will use that strength to help those who are weak.

Recognize that God’s blessings are there to point us to God.

But what if God blesses someone else the way we want to be blessed? What if they get what we wanted?

What if they don’t deserve it?

That is one of Jonah’s biggest issues. Jonah is fine as long as God is blessing him. But he gets really angry when God is blessing someone else, someone Jonah doesn’t think should be blessed.

Did you hear that? Jonah is great with God blessing someone as long as that someone is him, or His people. That is a dangerous place to live.

But God, being God still loves Jonah, AND the people of Nineveh despite the fact that they have been a horrible group of people. But God can change that. And God is so loving, He wants to teach Jonah something.

God gave that plant to shade Jonah’s head but watch what He does in verse 7-8

Jonah 4:7–8 ESV

But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 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.”

God took away the blessing that He gave Jonah with an illustration.

Jonah did not recognize the plant as being a blessing from God. Or, he just didn’t thank God for it. The worm ate the root and destroyed that blessing that Jonah had without him even knowing it.

The plant that God gave Jonah for comfort was taken away. Then God sends a blazing hot wind to Jonah so that he is really suffering, again to teach Jonah a lesson.

And it may seem like Jonah is overreacting (saying he wishes he could die) but I read this week that

Most identify this wind as the “sirocco.” When this wind is experienced in the Near East, the temperature rises dramatically, and the humidity drops quickly. It is a constant and extremely hot wind that contains fine particles of dust. It contains “constant hot air so full of positive ions that it affects the levels of serotonin and other brain neurotransmitters, causing exhaustion, depression, feelings of unreality, and occasionally, bizarre behavior.”

God now speaks to Jonah,

Jonah 4:9–10 ESV

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.” 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.

Jonah is so angry. Angry enough to die? I don’t think that Jonah is embellishing here. What could make him so angry?

9-120

Maybe he is upset because historically, the Jews had been the chosen people of God. Only the Jews. Jonah, along with other Jews took pride in that and anything else would have wrecked that world view.

Maybe this meant the downfall of Israel, that God was looking to others and Israel was falling by the wayside.

Its’ possible that Jonah would have wanted the destruction to wake up Israel to who God was and bring them back! They were not living for God.

At the worst, maybe Jonah cared about his own reputation as a prophet and he wanted all his prophecies to come true. A pride thing.

One of my commentaries said

At the very worst we see a prophet with a shocking disregard for human life and a bitter hatred toward those who had experienced mercy. At the very best he was a prophet who misunderstood God’s mercy and had a limited view of God’s plan for the redemption of his own people.

God says, Jonah, you didn’t make the plant to grow over your head but you are angry about it.

Jonah 4:11 ESV

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?”

God is so loving and trying to explain to Jonah, even though He doesn’t have to. God is explaining to Jonah that people are important to Him. Not just Israel, not just the Jews. But God created man in His own image and looks to save.

God is so loving and trying to explain to Jonah, even though He doesn’t have to. God is explaining to Jonah that people are important to Him. Not just Israel, not just the Jews. But God created man in His own image and looks to save.

That should be comforting to all of us.

Jonah likes God’s compassion when it is aimed at Jonah, or Jonah’s people, or when he has something to gain.

Jonah likes to receive God’s blessings but does not want anyone outside of his circle to experience them.

Do you know that God’s love, God’s plan, God’s will extends past you?

God’s will is not all about you, nor is it all about me, or this church. God has a plan for the world and when we get on board with God’s plan then we will be able to rejoice when we see how God works.

Our country, our culture is so focused on self. We are so interested in how we feel about something and when we don’t have empathy for those who aren’t like us then we are just like Jonah.

Are we focused on us and our own little world? Or, are we thinking about others?

Jesus tells a story about the prodigal son. He goes away and squanders his inheritance. Treats his family with disrespect. Hits rock bottom feeding pigs and then comes to his senses, comes home to dad and dad forgives him, loves him, embraces him, throws a party for him.

The older brother is so angry at this. He is only focused on himself. He says, “I have served you all this time, wheres MY party? Where’s the celebration for ME? You see, when you make it all about you, you will always find yourself disappointed.

Jonah does the same thing. 2-3

Jonah 4:2–3 ESV

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. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

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. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

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. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

I, I, I, Me Me me, My My. 8 times Jonah focuses on himself. He is all about what God can give him, what God has for him.

We are called to have love for others, even, even our enemies. How do you feel if God blesses your enemy?

What right do we have to demand that God should favor us over others?

Do you have a heart for others? Or are you so centered on yourself that you never even consider others? It’s a dangerous place to be.

If you recognize that you are too self centered, that you are too self absorbed understand that that is not who God wants you to be.

What right do we have to demand that God should favor us and not others?

Jonah couldn’t get beyond his own desires for God to bless him and his people. He couldn’t see God’s plan past that.

Jesus preached about loving everyone, including your enemies.

Matthew 5:43 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

Matthew 5:44 ESV

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Know this, God Loves Sinners. Sinners like me, and sinners like you. We are not the only one’s here in this universe.

God Loves Sinners.

You, as a Christian are called to love what God loves, to hate what God hates. God loves sinners, including you and me.

This whole story tis about a God who loves people so much. And God loves Jonah so much that he wants to continue to use him to reach these other people that he loves.

This whole story

You, as a Christian are called to love what God loves, to hate what God hates. Yes even when it is hard. It’s not always easy, believe me.

That is a prayer that I try to get in the habit of praying. Because I am not the most compassionate person in the world. I am not, just ask my wife, ask my family. I am not very compassionate.

But I pray, God, make me more compassionate toward those who don’t know you. Make me more loving to those who aren’t very lovable, according to my understanding.

Help me to love what you love and hate what you hate.

God loves sinners, including you and me.

This guy just told God off. And God continues to bless him.

This plant comes up out of nowhere and Jonah recognizes it as God’s blessing.

Because he is receiving a blessing. It’s easy to be happy when we are being blessed. That is one of Jonah’s biggest issues.