Jaundiced Jonah

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Jonah 4: 9             But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"

"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."

 

When I was a boy, I was very moody at times, and would go into a huff at the drop of a hat. Usually, it happened on the soccer fields close to my home. Whenever the opposing team, which was frequently skippered by my younger brother, began to beat my soccer team, I would pick up the ball and shout, "Game over! It's my ball, and I'm going home."

 

Of course, when that happened, both teams would try to placate me with flattery, and offer my team a couple of free shots to even the scores. Eventually, after five minutes of cajoling and bantering, we would all get back to the soccer field, choose new teams and begin again. Sometimes, however, my control ploy wouldn't work, for someone would shout out, "Aw, just let him go home. He's a big baby, and anyway, Tony's got another ball."

 

The prophet Jonah was a moody person, too. He didn't want to go to Nineveh to preach in the first place. He wanted his enemies to be punished and destroyed by God. He sat outside the city waiting for God to do what he wanted, and when God destroyed the plant where Jonah was sitting in the shade, well, that was the last straw.

 

"I'm angry about this," Jonah huffed. "Angry enough to die." In other words, he was saying to God, "If you don't do what I want, I'm going to sit here and sulk until I die."

 

God, however, was not buying any of it. The plant was just a plant, but in Nineveh, there were more than 120,00 people who couldn't tell their right hand from their left, which is Old Testament code for Pre-Kindergarten kids. Jonah is more concerned about a stupid plant than he is about all those children. Man, what a moody person he was!

 

Today, we may get ourselves involved in situations that we don't like. We may try to enforce our way upon others, or even withdraw our support to show our contempt. Let's try to not fall into those kind of self-destructive patterns or self-afflicted traps. We only end up hurting ourselves. We only end up isolated and alone.

 

Prayer:  Lord God, when You taught Jonah that lesson all of those years ago, You were also speaking to us today. Guard us against the heinous sin of self-importance and help us to look for mutual peace, unity and support in all of our relationships, and in all the situations we experience today. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.