Just eight words are spoken and 120,000 people repent and turn to God. This irritates and angers Jonah. As a prophet, sent by God to be a spokesperson to his people, this is a surprising response. This result, of a whole city receiving salvation, would be expected to bring Jonah great happiness, after all this was his life’s calling. However, Jonah felt that the Ninnevites didn’t deserve God’s compassion, nor his own.
Jonah was full of passion, but lacked COMpassion.
Is my passion compassionate?
Compassion is powerful. It sees longterm, rather than short term. It is more concerned with what others need whereas passion is usually about us (me). It’s about what I want and when I want it. Jonah was so consumed with his own feelings, his own passion, that he couldn’t see God’s compassion. God doesn’t answer Jonah’s concerns, he doesn’t even address what Jonah says about how it would be better for him to die. God goes straight to the heart of the matter! He asks Jonah questions to get to the root of Jonah’s anger.
1). How do you respond when you don’t get what you want?
2). How do you respond when people you don’t think deserve it get things (especially when it’s things that you want)?
Please follow the link here to listen to the full message.