Who Knows Best?

Jonah 4:1–11 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?”

Scripture: Jonah 4:1-11

Sermon Title: Who Knows Best?

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, who knows best? I can remember while growing up hearing the phrases, “Mother knows best” and “Father knows best.”  During our recent wedding planning, it seemed like I was hearing, “Mother-in-law knows best.” We use this logic that we know what is best on our children, young people, students to point them towards certain decisions, to act certain ways. If you are the one using it, you take your place as someone older, more experienced, someone who can be trusted especially when it comes to knowing the difference between right and wrong. If you are the one receiving it, hopefully it is because someone who cares about you wants you to make good choices. I do not know if people defend themselves by using the exact phrase still, but the concept still exists in most of our minds if not in our practice. 

Why bring this phrase up? We have this interaction, we might even call it a conflict going on between Jonah and God as we look at our text this morning. There are a lot of ways to look at it, but I want to take it from the vantage point that Jonah is attempting to tell God that he knows what’s best, but rightfully God has other thoughts. When we last encountered Jonah, the word of the Lord came to him again to go with a promised proclamation to Nineveh. We read how Jonah made that long trip and proclaimed the words given to him, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” As quick as we read those words in chapter three verse four, Jonah gets cut out of the scene, and the focus turns to Nineveh’s response and God’s gracious decision toward them. Almost six weeks go by, and now Jonah is picked up again for the final scene, and as we go this morning with the theme of “who knows best” we will take a look at Jonah’s arguments, God’s responses, and what we might learn from this account of a prophet who thinks a little too highly of himself. 

           We begin then looking at Jonah’s arguments. The chapter takes its cue, “Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry [because God did not overturn Nineveh]. He prayed, ‘O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee…I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity [so much of that declaration is what God has proclaimed himself to be to his people]. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.’” Despite the real changes we have seen take place with Jonah, he relapses while in Nineveh. Maybe it was jealousy in seeing the development of the city as he walked through, maybe it was vengeance in seeing some of the old practices of the Ninevites before they changed, maybe it’s a vision of his God flexing his might and seeing in his mind a foreign city crumble. Throughout the entire trip, we have been led with the confession of Jonah that we find here: he knows who God is and who he has proclaimed himself to be with the Israelites, and when it comes to those outside of Israel, Jonah is pretty confident that God could decide to do that with whomever he wants. Rather than seeing a growing in the number of people knowing the grace of God being a comfort, it displeases Jonah. It angers him, and so much so that he wants death. This Jonah looks much different from the chapter 2 Jonah; that Jonah prayed for life, this one desires death. That Jonah lamented those who forfeit God’s grace; this one sees God’s relenting towards those who turn to him as an abomination. Jonah has served God’s purpose, but he thinks he knows better. To Jonah this is not how things are supposed to work.

In verse 4, God says, “Have you any right to be angry?” It is almost like God is saying, “Wait a minute now, why should you be angry? What did you put in that the outcome is not acceptable?  Does your anger do any good?” Jonah ignores him.  He storms off to set up a little camp, which verse five tells us is so he can “see what would happen to the city.” We watch Jonah walk off, and it seems like the pouting child who does not get their way, “Fine, if the Ninevites could get God to relent by doing what they did, how much more should God listen to one of his chosen people when they want him to do something. This can’t last long, who knows? God may yet destroy this city.” As Jonah sits there in waiting, something extraordinary happens. Verse six tells us that God provides a vine giving Jonah shade. Just as he provided a great fish for him, now he provides a vine. But overnight and into the next day, God provides a couple other things: a worm that chews the vine causing it to die, and an east wind which multiplies the severe discomfort of the sun’s rays. Feeling now maybe more than ever that God has turned on him, might Jonah call out to God again as he did when he was sinking into the water? No, he repeats his declaration and tells God again, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” 

God looks at his circumstance and asks him, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” And this time, Jonah digs in, this is the hill he will die on. Jonah was called upon by God to go preach against Nineveh for its wickedness and he decides he would rather flee. He gets on the ship, God sends a storm, Jonah realizes it is his fault and he has the sailors throw him overboard. Jonah sunk down to the seafloor, but in the midst of his drowning, he cried out to God and had faith in him for the future. God remembered him and provided a great fish to rescue him, in whom he continues his prayer and has a renewed identity based on God’s grace. After three days, Jonah was vomited back up on shore and is given the word of God a second time to head to Nineveh with the message he would be given, and when that message is given, all of the people respond in repentance and God decides not to destroy the city. Chapter three could end like a fairy tale, “and they lived happily ever after,” but not everyone felt that way, and God’s work was not done. Off to the side is the sullen prophet who thinks he knows better about what God should actually be doing. He has ran away the first time God responded to his plea, but now he is here to stay until God pleases him, and he tells him in verse 9, “I do have a right, I am angry enough to die.”

There is something we can learn from Jonah. Here he is, crying out that God would take his life, believing that his anger is righteous. God hears him out, and that is a beautiful thing that we can be assured that God hears any and all of our frustration and hurt, but that does not mean we are always in the right when we do so. Our prayers matter to him, and he is willing to give us his grace though it may not always come as we want it, but our prayers can also be a medium for sin, a medium by which we try to manipulate God.  When Jesus teaches us to pray during his time on earth, he taught us a prayer that recognizes who God is and how God provides for us, and he taught us to pray for our enemies and those who persecute us and to endure our struggles. We are told that we can lift our lives up to God, all of our prayers and petitions. But when we pray that something as precious as the gift of life that he has given to us be taken away, that is sin, which is us telling God we know better. 

Brothers and sisters, there is nothing that should or can separate us from how much God loves us and cares intimately for us as he does for all his creation. God will listen to us beat him up, he will listen to us complain, but often when believers wonder why God is not listening, I wonder if there are times when God is asking us, “Have you any right to be angry?” That question that he asks Jonah is not one to mock him, but it is one to push him. It is similar to how God reveals himself in the end of the book of Job, chapters 38-41; it is a great place to go if you ever find yourself needing a self-check on who God is and who you are. It is there that God nails Job like a heavyweight boxer with question after question about what Job has done, what Job can understand, what Job can control. Compared to that, God treats Jonah like an infant, but nevertheless, we need that reminder that when we come before God, we come before him as his servants as well as his children. There is a way and an attitude that God deserves to be approached. 

Verses ten and eleven, after Jonah has spoken his peace to God, this is what I believe, this is how things should be, God in a short statement corrects Jonah and puts a cap on all that has happened.  “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” It feels to me like God at this point should say are you kidding me, but instead he graciously teaches him again. God brings Jonah’s attention to the root of his newfound anger, the vine, and it is a vine that Jonah did nothing to plant or nurture, and we do not see him giving thanks to God for its extraordinary growth. God can tell that Jonah believes he still knows best, he still thinks he deserved that vine for some reason. It’s almost like we have a parable, and God brings Jonah’s feelings about that plant to the city, a city great before God, a great city because of quantity with hundreds of thousands of people and herds upon herds of cattle, but also a great city because of its quality. “Should I not be concerned about that great city?” The account ends. God has confronted Jonah by showing that he truly knows best.

When we apply the concept of who knows best to God, it is means much more than what it does when it is applied to a human. God knows best not just in the relationship between him and Jonah, but he knows best compared to anyone. Duh! As simple as that is, how hard it is to put into practice as we see with Jonah. God has revealed to him that he holds power to call Jonah; he revealed his power to send the storm, to provide the fish, to not destroy the city of Nineveh, to provide a plant, to provide a worm, and to provide a scorching wind. How could someone to whom God has showed that kind of power still not see he knows what is best? This God who listens to Jonah’s cries and complaints, and then gives response to him, this God knows what is best and what is right! When we say that, especially after looking at the whole story of Jonah going to Nineveh, what is right at this point in history was for God to reveal his grace and compassion because they had repented and changed; within150 years Nineveh would be punished for their wickedness as they were invaded and overturned. But on this day in history, God makes his point with Nineveh, and he uproots Jonah’s pride, independence, and lack of concern for God’s wisdom.

Brothers and sisters, as much as this book is an account of God calling a foreign city to repentance and faith, it is also the story of God calling his own prophet to seeing who he is and trusting all of his actions. God calls Jonah and, through him, the people of Israel to repent of trying to conform him to what they want, to stop thinking he can be contained in their wishes and their desires. This book which sticks easily in the minds of so many as the prophet and the big fish is so much more!  It captures the coming to faith moments of sailors, of Jonah, of Nineveh, and what we hope is Jonah growing again in to true faith after relapsing.  One of the clearest statements we found in the first prayer was, “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” When Jonah spoke those things the first time, he got it! He believed that God was over him and anyone else who wants to believe and worship him, but it did not sink in. When we get to chapter four and wonder what happened, well, the vision he has of a great city being overturned which is within God’s power becomes an idol.  This vine which comes up for one day and is eaten away the next causing him to experience both relief and fainting, this vine which by itself is nothing in value compared to the lives of the Ninevites and their animals has become an idol. “Salvation comes from the Lord,” and our hope is that it is also the unwritten verse twelve of chapter four. Hopefully in his silence, Jonah gets it, God knows best, his justice and grace is beyond our understanding!

God asks his question and the writing ends. It’s a revelation for Jonah, it’s a revelation for Israel, and it’s a revelation for the church today. Like Jonah, we are prone to flee, to wake up, to proclaim God’s mercy but then want to keep it for ourselves. We can have the kind of faith that only puts its roots down when we can sense God is actively working and blessing us, there is no way those of other faiths could come to faith in the one true God, there is no way God could us to call upon those living in sin without repentance. We can have the kind of faith in which trials arise, our struggling feels like God does not care. Brothers and sisters, may we have a greater faith than that, may we have and share a greater faith in a God who can do extraordinary things and work in ways that we cannot comprehend. May we take comfort that God is able, and not just able but that he knows best! When God asks us “Should I not be concerned about that great city?” May we be able to look back on the goodness, the grace, and the hope that has been evident in our pasts and in the pasts of all God’s people. When God asks that question of me, I hope my answer is “Salvation comes from the Lord. You know best, with your grace and justice and love, be concerned with whoever you please.” Brothers and sisters, what will your answer be? Amen.