God is a God of mercy and compassion. He told Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion” (Romans 9:15, quoting Exodus 33:19). Understanding this truth about God should lead us into an even deeper commitment to Him. It should cause us to live more fully for Him and to serve Him better by sharing the gospel with others, including the importance of trusting Jesus with all your heart. Yet, so often we fail to truly understand God. Though we believe in God’s mercy, we often do not really want Him to be merciful to certain people that we judge as particularly evil. That was precisely the problem that Jonah experienced in the final chapter of his prophecy.
Jesus told Zacchaeus, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). That is the message Jonah preached in Nineveh. He told the people of that great city, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). He told them this disaster was coming upon them because “their wickedness has come up before (God)” (1:2). The purpose of his preaching was obviously intended to bring them to repentance. They did repent (3:5) and God had mercy upon them (3:10). So what was the problem?
When God showed mercy on the people of Nineveh, we are told that “it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry” (4:1). He even admits that the problem is that he did not really want God to spare the people of Nineveh. He said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I knew that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm” (v. 2). He even asked God to take his life (v. 3).
He did not want God to forgive these people whom he considered to be evil, though he knew He would. He wanted God to make them an example by destroying them instead. He wanted their destruction to be used by God to reach the people of Israel and bring them to repentance. After all they were the ones Jonah saw to be fit for the kingdom.
How often we judge people by our own prejudices. How often we want God to show mercy only to those people that we deem worthy. God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (v. 4). But Jonah only fled the city to the east and made a shelter for himself and watched “till he might see what would become of the city” (v. 5). Somehow he hoped he would still see this city destroyed.
God never gave up on Jonah. He caused a plant to grow up and give him shade (v. 6). Then, just as quickly, He sent a “worm” to damage the plant so that “it withered” (v. 7). Then God sent a wind that would take your breath away, along with the scorching hot sun. Together they made Jonah grow faint and wish to die (v. 8). Finally God chastised Jonah for his lack of understanding. If Jonah can have mercy on a plant (v. 10), cannot God “pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons?” (v. 11).
As I said at the start, understanding God’s mercy and compassion should lead us into an even deeper commitment to Him. If Jonah truly understood that God was “gracious and merciful” and filled with “lovingkindness” (v. 2), then he should have been fully committed to bringing that message to these people and seeking their welfare. He should have rejoiced in their repentance and in God’s show of mercy toward them. That is the level of commitment to God that comes from a true understanding of God. That is the level of commitment to God that He wants each of us to experience. Understanding God will bring that deeper level of commitment. Amen.
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