By David ReayMonday 12 Dec 2022LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, “God! I knew it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness! “So, God, if you won’t kill them, kill me! I’m better off dead!” (MESSAGE)
Poor old Jonah! Waiting out in the desert for God to hurl thunderbolts down on the wicked city of pagan Nineveh. But to his dismay, the people therein have turned to God who has accordingly shown mercy to them. No thunderbolts of judgement were forthcoming.
There is something perverse about this pathetic prophet. After initially defying God’s command to warn Nineveh to turn to God, he eventually does so after some time in the belly of a fish. When they respond, Jonah is far from pleased. He wants them punished. He wants to see them wiped out by divine action.
But nothing happens. Jonah all along has suspected God might be merciful. His own self-righteous anger at human wickedness wants to see justice done. Instead, God shows mercy. Sometimes God’s people show a lot more anger and a lot less mercy to those who defy him.
This compassionate God will surely deliver just judgement on human rebellion against him. We just need to beware of licking our lips in anticipation of this. If we find ourselves getting more excited about God punishing sinners than about his sparing those sinners, we have lost touch with the heart and mind of God. The thunderbolts that we hope might destroy others might just fall on us.
Blessings
David