#DailyDevotion R U A Good Example Of A Christian R A Bad 1?
Jon. 4 Jonah didn’t like this at all and became angry. 2He prayed to the LORD: “Now, LORD, isn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? So I went and fled to Tarshish. 3I knew You are gracious, merciful, patient, and very kind, and You relent from bringing on disaster. And now, LORD, take my life — I’d rather die than live.” 4“Is it right for you to be angry?” the LORD asked. 5But Jonah left the city and stayed east of the city and made himself a booth there and sat under it in its shade until he would see what would happen in the city.
It is no wonder sometimes that non-Christians hate Christians because Christians sometimes act so un-Christian. Jonah is the example of the Christian acting unChristlike. He was very angry because the LORD relented of the disaster He proclaimed to the people after they repented of their wickedness. Should not a Christian be happy and rejoice with the angels when a single sinner repents and lives, much less a great city like say New York? While we may want to see fire and brimstone cast down upon the wicked, should we not want to see all the more they repent, turn from their sins and join us in trusting in Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer of the world?
Well, not Jonah. He prayed to the LORD (again, Jonah is teaching us how to pray), “Now, LORD, isn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? So I went and fled to Tarshish” Now Jonah didn’t report his prayer to the LORD earlier when the LORD gave him his orders. But apparently he told the LORD something to the effect that if he preached to them the LORD’s message they would repent and the LORD would relent. He didn’t want the LORD to relent. He wanted Him to burn the Ninevites down to the ground like He did the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jonah fully expected the LORD to relent when the people repented because Jonah knew the LORD’s name and glory from Ex. 34:6, “the LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, slow to get angry, rich in love and faithfulness, 7continuing to show mercy to thousands, forgiving wrong, rebellion, and sin, without treating it as innocent, but disciplining children and children’s children to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their fathers.” The devil does a good job of keeping blinders on the people of the world from seeing this when they read the Old Testament. They don’t see this is how He really is and wants to be towards them. This is God’s primary nature and will towards all mankind. Wrath is an alien work for the LORD Jesus Christ, not a primary one.
So Jonah pouts and says, “LORD, take my life — I’d rather die than live.” Mind you, Jonah is still a Christian when he says this. He’s not being a very good one, but he is one nevertheless. The LORD in His great and infinite mercy asks Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Indeed, he should be rejoicing at Nineveh’s repentance. Instead, he goes east of the city, builds a booth, and sits in it to see what would happen to the city. It seems to me he is hoping the Ninevites repent of their repentance and the LORD would send down on them His hot wrath. Jonah is a great example of a bad example. Do we pray God’s wrath down upon this wicked world or do we pray for its repentance? Do we rejoice when bad things happen to bad people or when they repent and turn from their wickedness? God’s holiness and righteousness surely call for it, but we aren’t God.
Merciful and gracious Father, give us a heart that prays for the repentance and salvation of the world, and give us lives that proclaim Your mercy. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.