Jonah 4:1-11 (NLT)
This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”
The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”
Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.
But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed.
Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”
Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”
As we’ve already discussed, Jonah preaches to the city of Nineveh and the entire city repents of its sin. That's amazing. They repented in such a way that God decided to spare the entire city after earlier deciding to wipe it out. Jonah got so angry at this that he left the city and sat by himself in the desert.
So while Jonah was throwing his man-fit in the desert, God came to him and asked him if he felt his anger was justified. Jonah replied saying, "Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”
So God left him alone stewing in the desert and did something strange. He caused a plant to grow up next to Jonah. Overnight. To give Jonah's whiny heinie some shade. Jonah was grateful as I would have been. I'm sure his anger subsided a bit when that cool shady breeze hit his face. However, after Jonah was able to finally get some relief from the heat, God sent a worm to eat the entire tree. A worm ate the entire plant. A worm. God also sent a very nasty blistering hot wind out of the east to beat on Jonah for a bit. So Jonah starts to throw another man-fit. He says, "Death is certainly better than living like this!" So God asks him if his anger towards the plant's demise was just. Jonah replied like any sweaty, hot, defeated man would have replied:
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”
Heat can make a man do and say many things he's not proud of. I know this from personal experience.
So then God comes at him with this question: “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?”
I'm sure every bird, lizard, and insect stopped whatever it was doing at that very second and let out a big, "Ohhhh SNAP!" Because that's where the book ends and if the animal's quip was written, it would have just been silly. But I bet it happened. We find out really quickly that Jonah has no answer to the question. The book just ends.
There are no more chapters in the book of Jonah. He will be forever remembered for being swallowed by a fish and throwing man-fits in the desert. Quite the legacy... However, I think he would be thankful that God was able to use him to teach us such a powerful lesson. I think this is the proverbial "can't see the forest for the trees" kind of thing. Jonah was in such a selfish state that he was more upset about that plant dying than he was a city of over 120,000 people dying. If you're God, this is what you call a "teachable moment."
Let us not be so selfish and short-sighted that we completely miss out on all of the blessings God has set before us.
The world doesn't need another Jonah.
