COMEDY IN JONAH 

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible…. 

Jonah 4: 9  NKJV

⁹Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” 

Jonah is emotional.  We are given the material to see the whole range of his emotions.  They range from obstinate disobedience in 1:3 to petulant anger in 4:9.  But always first and foremost Jonah is a true believer. 

Alexander Whyte says Jonah is the “Older Brother” from the New Testament and a true representation of Simon the Pharisee.  I think he is too harsh with him.  Jonah seems to be the Old Testament Peter.  Immature, undisciplined, and committed to his own understanding of God rather than knowing God as He reveals Himself. 

This should sound familiar to most of us.  It is at least a stage through which we have passed even if we have not gotten hung up in it.  Jonah just didn’t seem to get past this point in his growth.   

But what develops in Jonah is a different look at God’s grace.  It seems as the writer sees this grace as a jewel that he turns in his hand to show us the beauty reflected from it no matter what side we see.

This grace begins as God delivers the sailors, it extends to Jonah in the belly of the great fish, and the true extent of it is seen in God both granting repentance to Nineveh and then graciously receiving that repentance all the way to their deliverance.

In chapter 4 there is a particular aspect of grace that is revealed.  That is God’s grace in His longsuffering with an obstreperous believer.  There is no excuse for Jonah.  His conduct is immature and if it was not so comical it would be disgusting.

As one who has argued with God, I can truly identify with Jonah.  In the argument God is always there listening, never threatening, always kind, and without any intent of giving in to the petulance of the poor self-absorbed believer.

There are two certain results.  God will win because he is God.  The believer will receive sufficient grace because the grace of God is what it is.

The upshot is most of us have, or have had, our gourd vine, and every vine comes with a worm.  Remember there is a worm that kills, a God who will require, and a warning to prevent it.