“The change of plans made Jonah unhappy! He complained to the Lord about it. This is exactly what I thought you would do, Lord, when I was there in my own country, when you first told me to corms here.” Jonah 4:1-2 (TLB).
It had taken a lot of convincing to get Jonah here. He had run away from God, and lived three days in the belly of a fish. After the fish gagged him up onto the beach, God asked Jonah, again, to go and prophesy to Nineveh. Jonah needed no further demonstrations.
Jonah entered the huge city and began to preach. He was disappointed by the reaction of the ninevites. They were repenting, mourning, and crying out to God for forgiveness, both individually and corporately. So everyone from the King down was in morning, wearing sackcloth and ashes.
The Lord stayed their punishment, and Jonah didn’t like it.
As he found shelter from the heat, a worm that God had put into the vines to teach a lesson began its job….. After the worm ate his shelter, Jonah cried to Our Father! The Lord then gave Jonah a lesson in love. Why, God asks, was the death of a plant so terrible, when you were praying for judgment and destruction of 120,000 people and a large city? The Bible says judgment belongs to the Lord, as one reluctant prophet learned the hard way!
Copyright 2007 Timothy E. Davis