Another Second Chance: Jonah 4:5-11

Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:5-11)

Now Jonah heads east. If he really believed his words about God’s character, he would have stayed put. Sometimes we say all the right things, and yet when our heart is alienated, we act on our feelings, not what we know to be true. Jonah is removing himself from God’s presence.

He questioned God.

He defied God.

He glorified God. Now?

He avoids God. What happened, Jonah?

He goes outside the city, and makes a shelter and “waited to see what would happen to the city.” (4:5) What is he expecting? How has God’s revelation about sparing the city changed? Jonah is now without direction, and so he sits and waits. God told him that He was going to be merciful, and yet Jonah is acting as if God is going to destroy the city anyway.

Why do we think time will change God’s words to us? If He has spoken, we need to listen and obey, and not assume God is some kind of wishy-washy Father who will change His mind at some point.

God’s unchanging character is a relief when we are looking for a steadfast love and refuge; but when we are sinning, we hope that God will relent, and not take His words so seriously. But, remember, “Jesus is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.” (Heb. 13:8)

Jonah’s feelings about Nineveh may have a much deeper root in his heart than his knowledge of God’s love. Our fears can sometimes trump the newer truths God is planting in our hearts. Jonah’s prayer inside the whale was sincere (no one can manufacture such heart-felt praise) but now that he’s out, he has fallen back into anger and fear because of God’s acceptance of Israel’s enemy. If Nineveh gets nailed, Jonah need not explore God’s mercy and grace any further.

In Revelation 2:2-5, the church in Ephesus hears this exhortation:

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

This could be a description of our Jonah. He detests wickedness in Nineveh, but he has forgotten his first love: the very Lord he was called to serve. He persevered and emerged from the whale, but he has forgotten his first Love. He is a man called of God, a noble thing to be sure, but he has forgotten his first Love.

Yet, even so, the Lord reaches out again to His error-prone prophet. The shelter Jonah builds is inadequate against the hot sun, so the Lord provides a vine to give Jonah shade.

Whenever we seek to build ourselves a shelter, it is always inadequate. We think we are fine until the hot sun of loneliness, fear, anger or isolation starts beating down on our heads. In fact, the reason for the vine was to “give shade for his head to ease his discomfort.” (4:6)

Jonah is happy about the vine, of course, but where is the song of thanksgiving? Where is the hearty “Thank You, Lord!” for it? He’s just sitting there. He’s alone, but a lot cooler now that the vine has sprung up. Perhaps life isn’t so bad, is it?

Is it?

But God is never content to leave us just as we are. He loves us way too much to leave us sitting out there by ourselves, thinking we’ve got it handled. Did it even occur to Jonah that God sends the vine for his comfort? Or, because his heart is cold, does he just look at it? Is he content not to question its appearance?

Then the Lord sends a worm. It nibbles away at the vine until the vine withers. Even if we are afraid and have good reason to be upset, we are still admonished that in our “anger do not sin.” We are not to “let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Eph. 4:26-7)

The sun went down on Jonah’s anger. The Lord was waiting for some kind of thankful response to the vine, showing a softening of Jonah’s heart.

The next day, the wind blows blisteringly hot. This wind is sent not to cool Jonah down after the vine withers, but to get Jonah’s attention. Does Jonah seek the Lord? No. He just wants to die.

How sad. Our life, the most precious gift of all, has no meaning when it is not tethered to God. We lose our purpose and our direction. Sitting out in that desert, Jonah is free to do as he will, but he has no meaning or purpose. The hot wind distresses him not just physically. He’s withering on the inside as well, to the point of wanting to die. He encountered death in the belly of the whale, and when he emerged victorious, how sweet life was!

But now, in the heat of the sun, he wants to die. He displaces his anger onto the vine: 

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.” (4:9)

It’s the vine’s fault! How often, in our fear, we seek to blame others for our anger? We resent what has been done to us. The fear that results causes us to stop trying. We crawl under a withered vine, angry and alone. We sit under the sun of resentment for what might have been.

Our fear changes us into someone ugly. We are ugly to others and to ourselves. Jonah is having an ugly moment, blaming the vine and probably if the truth were told, blaming God.

Is he thinking, God failed to punish Israel’s enemy. Israel’s safety is compromised and if anything happens, it will be God’s fault, not mine!

See how blinded Jonah is? He is once again focused on himself, even though we know (just as God does!) that he is quite capable of being obedient. God sees our potential. He still sees Jonah’s, as he sits way out there in the desert.

God knows Jonah’s immediate need, which is shade from a hot sun. God also knows Jonah’s deeper need, which is replacing his fear with an even stronger faith centered on who God is, and not just on what He does. God then lovingly but firmly corrects His prophet:

The vine suited Jonah, for it met his needs, caused no fear and made him the center of his world. He didn’t have to do anything. He just stayed put.

But God wants so much more for us than just staying put. Jonah would have stayed out in the desert for a long time with that cooling vine. We would stay out in the desert, too, for a long time with our fear and anger at how unfair life is. It’s a kind of weird comfort to stay put, seeking no change. Moving out of the desert is hard work. But, if God sends, He defends.

Life is unfair. But there are worms everywhere, nibbling away at our shelters. God is trying to get our attention, showing us that a vine springing up overnight is just a temporary fix. We like to seek out temporary fixes and assume that they will last. They meet our innermost needs and get us though. So, these fixes are just fine. Right?

Wrong.

God sent a worm to remind Jonah of a fundamental truth. God is deeply concerned about wicked people, irresponsible people, good people, so-so people, righteous people, lonely people and angry people.

In other words, God is reaching out to you, to me, to everyone. He so loved the world that He sent His Son. He doesn’t want anyone to perish, although many will choose not to take hold of His nail-scarred hand. He gives us, without reservation, eternal life. It’s an eternal life with Him, without fear, anger, scorching winds in desert, or darkness in the bellies of whales. He offers an eternal life with Him in a place where there are no tears. It’s ours for the asking.

But He also offers an abundant life to us here.

Moses, speaking on God’s behalf, said to the people, after leading them out of Egypt and giving them the Law to live by:

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deut. 30:19-20)

Jesus said: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

Jonah receives a second chance. Again and again. How does our Jonah respond? The narrative ends with God’s questions to Jonah.

We really don’t know how he responds.

How many more whales, worms and winds have to barge into Jonah’s world until he gets it?

What does he need to get?

What do we need to get?

It is this one truth: God’s love is sufficient for us to overcome our own private Nineveh. Sometimes we pray the same prayer of a father who brought an extremely ill son to Jesus, who wanted to believe that Jesus could heal his son, but he was fearful. Jesus tells the man that “‘Everything is possible for him who believes,’ and then the man says, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23-4)

Jesus also reassures us, as He did His disciples as He was facing His death: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

We follow Jesus. He overcame betrayal, pain and death. He weeps right alongside us when we face our Nineveh. He encourages us each day to trust Him. How will you respond? Your Nineveh may never change, but God calls you out from your rickety, self-made shelter into His care. Paul calmly asserts:

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Cor. 12:9)

The power of Christ in you will affect the change God desires for you. He doesn’t call you to change on your own strength, in your own power. He calls you, fills you, empowers you and sustains you with His Holy Spirit. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples, not long before His crucifixion:

[T]he Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also… (John 14:17-19)

You are never alone. His Spirit in you sees to that.