I Am Jonah
Jonah 4:1-11
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 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 that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
Good theology doesn’t make you a good person.
“yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown (haphak)” Jonah 3:4
1. Haphak = “turned over” Hosea 7:8 Israel is like baked bread that has not been haphak.
2. Haphak = “overthrown, destroyed” Lamentations 4:6 The punishment of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was haphak in a moment without a hand turned to help her.
3. Haphak = “changed/transformed” Psalm 30:11 You haphak my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
1. When your focus is on what they’re becoming you become blind to what you’re becoming.
2. When you focus on what will become of them, you miss what became of Him (Jesus).
When God asks you a question it’s not because He needs to hear an answer, it’s because you need to hear the answer.