Learning The Hard Way: Jonah
We've all had times in our life when we have had to learn a lesson the hard way. Sometimes, consequences have to be imposed upon us, and we must suffer loss or damages in order for things to really sink in. Sometimes, even tragedy has to strike before our eyes are opened. There are many biblical examples of people who had to learn lessons the hard way, and I'd like for us to take a look at some of them and the consequences that they faced, as well as the lessons that they learned.
We'll begin this week with Jonah, and the hard lesson that he learned when he tried to run away from God. After he was told by God that he was to go to the city of Nineveh to speak out against the people and their evil ways, Jonah made the decision to run away. He found a ship, and paid his fare to board it, and was bound for a place called Tarshish, hidden from the eyes of the Lord, or so he thought. But God knew where Jonah was. He sent a great storm which threatened to sink the ship. The crew of the ship began to throw everything overboard in a vain attempt to lighten the load, but Jonah knew why the storm was raging. He eventually told the crew that it was he himself that was the cause of the tempest, and they reluctantly threw him overboard in order to save the ship. It was then that Jonah began to learn a very hard lesson, as God had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. We read in Jonah, chapter 2..."Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." Jonah found himself in a terrifying situation, inside of this great fish, but he turned to the Lord in his anguish, and realizing why all these things had come to pass, he renewed his vow to the Lord. Jonah learned the hard way that we cannot run from the face of the Lord. He is omnipresent, sees all things, and knows all things, and we must accept His will for our life. So Jonah went to Nineveh as the Lord had commanded, and he preached there, telling the people to turn from their wickedness, or else the Lord would destroy their city in forty day's time. The people of Nineveh received the words of the Lord, and repented of their evil ways, and every inhabitant of the city, including the king, fasted and prayed, and covered themselves in sackcloth and ashes, fearing the wrath of the Lord. This would seem to have been quite a successful mission for Jonah, as the Lord spoke through him, and this great city repented from its wicked ways, and turned to God. However, we read in Jonah, chapter 4 that Jonah was very unhappy about the mercy that God had shown in sparing Nineveh. Jonah was about to learn another hard lesson. Jonah 4:1-4 tells us..."But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?" It seems as though Jonah was bitter at the idea that God would be merciful to this wicked city, that inwardly he actually yearned to see it destroyed for its evil ways. It was, after all, a Gentile city, and therefore, in Jonah's eyes, the people of Nineveh did not deserve God's mercies at all. However, God sought their repentance, and whether they were Jew or Gentile did not matter to Him at all. Jonah's bitterness probably also stemmed from the fact that his own people, the nation of Israel, were so unrepentant in their ways, and God's mercies had been withheld from them because of it.
And so, Jonah went out of the city, and he made himself a dwelling in the boughs of some trees, and sat down, and waited to see what would become of Nineveh. We are not told exactly how long Jonah waited, but we can reasonably assume that he had waited until the forty days had expired, impatiently waiting, and hoping that God's wrath would be kindled against Nineveh and that the city would be destroyed. As Jonah sat there, under a tree, God, in His mercy, made a gourd to grow, for cover over Jonah, to shield him from the sun, and deliver him from his grief. This made Jonah very happy. However, God was not finished with Jonah yet. We read in Jonah 4:7-11..."But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said unto Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then the Lord said, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" This is the way that the book of Jonah ends, and we are not told how Jonah responded to God's reasoning with him. All that we can do is to examine closely the lessons that Jonah was being taught. It seems as though one of Jonah's biggest problems was his pride. Rather than rejoicing at the fact that Nineveh had repented, and turned to God, Jonah is bitter at the fact that God has shown mercy to them. God shows mercy to Jonah in providing a gourd in order to shield him from the sun, but when he removes it, we see that Jonah's anger is easily kindled and once again he entreats the Lord to take his life. Herein lies the lesson that Jonah needed to learn. God had given Jonah a second chance, just as He had given a second chance to Nineveh. It is not in our best interest to concentrate on our surroundings, or our feelings, or our emotions, and to let them control us. We are to be thankful to God for his mercy and provision for us, and accept the fact that this world is His to do with as He wills. Jonah had no part in making the gourd that provided him with shelter, just as he had no part in Nineveh turning back to God, other than being a messenger. Jonah's problem was with his heart. He had no right to be angry for the loss of the gourd, just as he had no right to be angry over the repentance of Nineveh. The question that God asked Jonah two separate times is a very valid one, and is one that we all need to ask ourselves from time to time, "Doest thou well to be angry?" We need to remain humble, to keep our pride and our anger in check, and be thankful for God's mercy, whether it is directed toward us or toward others. We have to accept God's will for our life, knowing that He loves us and that only He knows what is best for us.
We'll begin this week with Jonah, and the hard lesson that he learned when he tried to run away from God. After he was told by God that he was to go to the city of Nineveh to speak out against the people and their evil ways, Jonah made the decision to run away. He found a ship, and paid his fare to board it, and was bound for a place called Tarshish, hidden from the eyes of the Lord, or so he thought. But God knew where Jonah was. He sent a great storm which threatened to sink the ship. The crew of the ship began to throw everything overboard in a vain attempt to lighten the load, but Jonah knew why the storm was raging. He eventually told the crew that it was he himself that was the cause of the tempest, and they reluctantly threw him overboard in order to save the ship. It was then that Jonah began to learn a very hard lesson, as God had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. We read in Jonah, chapter 2..."Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed.
And so, Jonah went out of the city, and he made himself a dwelling in the boughs of some trees, and sat down, and waited to see what would become of Nineveh. We are not told exactly how long Jonah waited, but we can reasonably assume that he had waited until the forty days had expired, impatiently waiting, and hoping that God's wrath would be kindled against Nineveh and that the city would be destroyed. As Jonah sat there, under a tree, God, in His mercy, made a gourd to grow, for cover over Jonah, to shield him from the sun, and deliver him from his grief. This made Jonah very happy. However, God was not finished with Jonah yet. We read in Jonah 4:7-11..."But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said unto Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then the Lord said, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" This is the way that the book of Jonah ends, and we are not told how Jonah responded to God's reasoning with him. All that we can do is to examine closely the lessons that Jonah was being taught. It seems as though one of Jonah's biggest problems was his pride. Rather than rejoicing at the fact that Nineveh had repented, and turned to God, Jonah is bitter at the fact that God has shown mercy to them. God shows mercy to Jonah in providing a gourd in order to shield him from the sun, but when he removes it, we see that Jonah's anger is easily kindled and once again he entreats the Lord to take his life. Herein lies the lesson that Jonah needed to learn. God had given Jonah a second chance, just as He had given a second chance to Nineveh. It is not in our best interest to concentrate on our surroundings, or our feelings, or our emotions, and to let them control us. We are to be thankful to God for his mercy and provision for us, and accept the fact that this world is His to do with as He wills. Jonah had no part in making the gourd that provided him with shelter, just as he had no part in Nineveh turning back to God, other than being a messenger. Jonah's problem was with his heart. He had no right to be angry for the loss of the gourd, just as he had no right to be angry over the repentance of Nineveh. The question that God asked Jonah two separate times is a very valid one, and is one that we all need to ask ourselves from time to time, "Doest thou well to be angry?" We need to remain humble, to keep our pride and our anger in check, and be thankful for God's mercy, whether it is directed toward us or toward others. We have to accept God's will for our life, knowing that He loves us and that only He knows what is best for us.
great article love mom
ReplyDelete