I mean, you’re just gonna end up doing it anyway. God says “Do”. Jonah says “No”. God says “Oh yeah?”. Fish eats Jonah. Jonah feels bad. Fish spits out Jonah. Jonah does what God says. Lesson learned right? Um, not exactly.

The most common mistake when reading Jonah’s story is putting all of the focus on the whale when there should be an equal focus (if not greater focus) on the plant. Many think that the main issue with Jonah was his ACTION in disobeying God, but the real issue was what God is always most concerned about, his HEART.

Jonah’s heart is revealed after he delivers God’s message of repentance to the wicked city of Nineveh. In some cases when a prophet is told to deliver such a message, the people reject it, or even worse, murder the prophet! But the people of Nineveh actually listen to Jonah! They repent and do all the works! Sackcloth, ashes, fasting from the King all the way down to cattle! Everyone cried out to God for mercy and God heard their cry and did not destroy them. Wow, this is the kind of turn around that rivals Paul’s conversion to Christ. Mission Success! Jonah can write this one down in his list of accomplishments! He should be pleased.. right? Not necessarily and here is where we see the main issue.

After the entire city repents it says in Jonah Chapter 4:1 ” 1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee 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, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Wow, the things we are usually grateful to God for Jonah is displeased with. Jonah would rather die than to see God show his mercy to the people of Nineveh. The reason he disobeyed God wasn’t because he feared rejection or death, it’s actually because he KNEW that they would accept his message. And thus we get to the supernatural event that targets Jonah’s issue, The Plant. After Jonah angrily storms away from the city he makes a shelter to view the city form the East. God makes a plant grow to provide Jonah shade and Jonah is very grateful for the plant. The next day God destroys the plant and Jonah gets very upset 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” ”I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.” 10 But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 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?”

Jonah had no type of concern whatsoever for the people of Nineveh. They were wicked people and for all he cared, they could rot in their iniquities. His response to their repentance showed that he felt that they had every right to receive God’s wrath and shouldn’t be spared. However God saw different. Though wicked people, the people of Nineveh was still God’s creation. Though deep in thier sin, God still loved them. Though lost, God’s desire was for them to be found. This is what God wants us to understand when it comes with dealing with His creation.

Jonah loved the plant because it provided him shelter and sometimes we tend to treat people the same way. We love people when they do things for us. When they make us laugh. When they please us. Now this is a natural response when people are generous to us. However, we then tend to not like people who mistreat us, bad talk us, or annoy us. We even take it further and dislike people who we rarely have contact with and say things like “There’s just something about her I don’t like” or “Something about him rubs me the wrong way”. If the people of Nineveh were buddies of Jonah, lent him money, gave him gifts, I’m sure he’d have no problem preaching to them a message of repentace. This is a very unbiblical attitude to have and is tackled in Luke 6: 32- 36. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

How do you respond to person that disrespects you? How do you react to the person that talks about you behind your back? How do you deal with someone who looks at you the wrong way. It takes a strong willed person to hold their tongue, but a person with God’s vision will respond with a compliment. It takes a lot of discipline to just ignore them, but a person with God’s vision will help them when they see their need. A very moral person may just stay away, but a person with God’s vision will give them a comforting word. This is the heart God wants us to have towards his people. To bless those that curse us and persecute us. Instead of taking an offense personally, it should be viewed as a disconnection that person has to the Father and we should pray for them instead of holding malice in our hearts. Let’s show God’s love. Let’s love even when it hurts. That’s when the true beauty of Christ will shine out and even change that person’s life. To God be the Glory!

John 13:35: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Will you reject the Jonah mentality?