jonah 4: the steadfast love of God
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My wife Louise is a gardener
My wife Louise is a gardener
“If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need.”
Roman philosopher Cicero
I really love the garden lou has made for our family at our place. She plants Australian plants and has made a lovely shady garden. But sometimes the plants live and sometimes they don’t. There are good reasons for a plant thriving or dying but sometimes a plant dys from a random reason.
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
Abraham Lincoln
Today we are going to see God give the critical prophet Jonah a gardening lesson and like us all the Prohpet does is complain.
hessed
hessed
In our last talk we saw how God is described in Jonah using the word hessed which translates as the steadfast love of God. The first time God is introduced as Hessed is in Exodus 34 when Moses meets God for the first time at the buring bush.
In Exodus 34: Moses meets God for the first time. God introduces himself with the title Hessed
6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
This is the God Jonah knows and runs away from. How can you run away from steadfats love?
we all do though but here today we see the assyrians repenting and stop runnnig and ask to be led by God
Jonah is angry
Jonah is angry
1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.
he prays his second prayer:
2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
very dramatic. Shows his motivation in chapter 2 wanting to die rather than see the ninivah repent and be saved.
Reading social medai I see this attidude reflected in some posts where people pile on against people they disagree. There is distain and ridicule of people who are like the Assyrians. There is only judgement.
I wonder what would be the responce if God were to ask a blogger to take the message of repentance to the hated opperssors in our day.
Jonah is angry at 3 things
Jonah is angry at 3 things
v3 Ninavites forgiven
3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
v8 Plants dead
8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
v9 angry at the plant
9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
Be careful of anger
Be careful of anger
Jonah is self righteous in his anger and he also has very good reason to be angry.
That is right the Bible says that righteous anger is a good thing.
Jonah is right to be angry at the sin of the asstyruans
God himself is angry at sin
11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who displays his wrath every day.
As we see oppressors conduct injustice we too should be angry.
So Jonah is right to be angry about the oppression and injustice of the King of Ninaveh.
BUT we should be careful of Anger that in our anger we do not sin:
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
Three of my fav provs
11 Fools give full vent to their rage,
but the wise bring calm in the end.
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
18 A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict,
but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.
The problem for Jonah was not that he was angry at the sin of the Assyrians but that he was not wanting God to forgive them. Because he did not want to forgive.
4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Jonah sat to wtach what wouldf happedn in the sun
God gave him a vine it shaded him
6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.
7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
God is the great gardener and garden’s jonahs very heart
10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
we don’t know what happens
We are meant to ask what will i do with my anger and unforgiveness.
God saved the evil Niivah but will the prophet of God be saved?
In mark 11 Jesus curses the fig tree that bears no fruit and it dies.
19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
God will bring justice. I think we can point out injustice but not with arronace like Jonah.
What do we do, control your anger.
Matt 28 :19 make disicples
whlistic share the message and help people as you do. and help people grow in faith as disicples and help people as you do.
This is active not like Jonah judging and sittng what happens next,
Be led by God and like the disicples, sailors and the king be active in helping people come to faith which includes rebukes.
Jesus and the fig tree
“The great French Marshal Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree would not reach maturity for a hundred years. The marshall replied, ‘In that case there is no time to lose. Plant this afternoon!’”
John F Kennedy