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God The Father

I have met so many parents and grandparents over the years who have children that have gone astray and are not living according to Gospel covenants. The overwhelming emotion I have noted in them is not anger or resentment. It is compassion, sorrow, and an all-consuming desire to love and help. And yet, when considering their own sins and mistakes they stand virtually on trembling knees fearing the anger of the Father. That spiritual dissonance brings me to this story.

Typically, when we think of the story of the prophet Jonah, we automatically think of a whale, and how Jonah was swallowed for trying to run away from the mission that God had given him. And that’s true; he was. But there’s another element to that story that’s worth telling.

You see, Jonah was a prophet during the time that Israel was ruled by Assyria, a ruthless world power. When Jonah was commanded to go to the city of Nineveh and call them to repentance, he attempted to run away, but not so much because he just didn’t want to go – its not that he’s lazy. It’s because Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria, Israel and Jonah’s avowed enemies. And what’s more, Nineveh was a city of heathen gentiles, another fact that would make them detestable to Jonah.

After the Lord manages to adjust Jonah’s attitude in the whale’s belly, he goes to Nineveh and boldly and powerfully calls the city to repentance saying, “… Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” (Jonah 3:4)

Immediately – and our nation would do well to do similarly – the people of Nineveh began to fast, pray, and bring themselves down in the depths of repentance. They were spared the destruction; God had mercy on them. But that mercy angered Jonah to the point that he went to the Lord and asked the Lord to kill him. The Lord refused, of course. So Jonah, pouting, went outside the city and sat down on a hill, and waited to see what would l happen to the city.

The Lord decided to teach Jonah another lesson. The Lord caused a broad-leafed plant to grow up overnight over Jonah’s head to shield him from the hot sun. The next day, Jonah enjoyed that plant for its shade. But then a worm killed the plant. By the end of the next day, Jonah was suffering from heat stroke, and again he’s angry with the Lord, this time for killing the plant. And again, Jonah’s so angry he asked the Lord to kill him. At this point now, Jonah is ready to be taught.

The Lord came to him and said, in essence, ‘Jonah, are you angry with me because I killed your shade plant?’

‘Yes!’ Jonah answered.

‘Jonah, you feel sorry for that plant, yet you did no work to plant it or to nurture it. It grew up in one day, and it died in one day. You are angry with me because you wanted it to live. Jonah, shouldn’t I have pity on a great city of 120,000 of my children who are lost and confused? Shouldn’t I do everything I can to help them? Shouldn’t I want them to live?’

The Book of Jonah ends right there with the message ringing across the millennia—God is a kind Father–patient and long-suffering with our sins and weaknesses when we repent. All of you who would have the greatest compassion on errant loved ones—step back and consider—if you would have compassion with yours—won’t you let Him have compassion for you?

Source: Jonah 3-4