Jonah 4:1-5
Big Idea: Jonah is upset with God that he extends mercy and grace to the Ninevehites. This shows how God’s ways are different from man’s ways. Our tendency is to conform God into the image of man. This is idolatry. God is calling us to submit our perception of him to his holy and revealed Word, in which the true nature and character of God is found, which is always contrary to man’s nature.
“The Hebrew phrase [slow to anger] is literally ‘long of nostrils.’ Picture an angry bull, pawing the ground, breathing loudly, nostrils flared. That would be, so to speak, ‘short nosed.’ But the Lord is long-nosed. He does not have his finger on the trigger. It takes much accumulated provoking to draw out his ire. Unlike us, who are often emotional dams read to break, God can put up with a lot. This is why the Old Testament speaks of God being ‘provoked to anger’ by his people dozens of times… But not once are we told that God is ‘provoked to love’ or ‘provoked to mercy.’ His anger requires provocation; his mercy is pent up, ready to gush forth. We tend to think: divine anger is pent up, spring-loaded; divine mercy is slow to build. It’s just the opposite. Divine mercy is ready to burst forth at the slightest prick. (For fallen humans, we learn in the New Testament, this is reversed. We are to provoke one another to love, according to Heb. 10:24. Yahweh needs no provoking to love, only to anger. We need no provoking to anger, only to love. Once again, the Bible is one long attempt to deconstruct our natural vision of who God actually is.)” –Dane Ortland, Gentle and Lowly
Ecclesiastes 7:9 (ESV) — 9 Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
James 1:19–20 (ESV) — 19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
The ______________________ of Jonah’s Displeasure
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord… for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
The literal translation is, “It was evil to Jonah with great evil.”…Jonah literally hated what God had done. As God’s anger and judgment were averted in chap. 3, Jonah’s anger was incited.
Genesis 20:6 (ESV) —6 Then God said to him (Abimelech) in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.
Exodus 7:3–4 (ESV) — 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you…
1 Kings 18:37 (ESV) — 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”
Proverbs 21:1 (ESV) — 1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
God is not like Jonah. God is not like you and me.
The __________________________ of Jonah’s Displeasure
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew…
The selfishness of this prayer needs to be noted. The word “I” or “my” occurs no fewer than nine times in the original. Not only does this prayer show an extreme selfishness, but it also indicates Jonah’s shortsightedness.
Luke 22:41–44 (ESV) —41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Questions to Consider
How often do you find yourself contending with the way God works in your life? Is this a fruit of the Spirit or a work of the flesh? How might we combat this?
What was Jona
