Daily Study – August 28th – Jonah 4:5-8 – First Christian Church of Gibson City

Daily Study – Jonah 4:4 – August 27th

August 26, 2020

Sunday Devotional – August 30th

August 30, 2020

Published by Pastor Mat Bowen III at August 28, 2020

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⁵Jonah 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. ⁶Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant^[a] 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. ⁷But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. ⁸When 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.” – jONAH 4:5-8

Jonah seems to hope that the repentance of Nineveh was lacking. He seems to hope that he will see the city destroyed. After all, isn’t this why he is out of the city? He goes out of the city for safety. The LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah: Just as God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. Now He prepared a particular plant to shelter Jonah as he waited, hoping that they city would be destroyed. This is the first time we find Jonah happy.God was finally doing something for Jonah. Up until this point, Jonah’s communication with the Lord has been about other people. Now, it was time for Jonah to be taken care of. Jonah’s hatred of Nineveh and his happiness in this verse point us in the direction of believing Jonah was. . . well . . .kinda selfish. This is hard to wrap our minds around as we view prophets as altruistic. But let me assure you that God can and has used all sorts of leaders to bring His will forth.

Jonah’s happiness did not last long though. The next morning Jonah’s happiness was all but gone. Interestingly enough the literally translation of the word for “angry” in Hebrew means “to be hot.” Jonah was quite literally becoming more and more angry about his position in life. He did not want to be there. He wanted to leave. He wanted his old bed back. We have all felt that desire. We understand emotions are strong when we just want to go home. This small plant symbolized Jonah’s home. The plant was cool. It provided Jonah comfort, but as soon as it left Jonah went down a dark hole of self-pity. Jonah was idolizing the plant. The plant made him happy. It was the comfort he sought, not the company of God. We lose sight of God when we make his blessings our idols. This moment for God was not about Jonah, but Jonah made it about himself. This moment was about God presenting Nineveh with the truth of His love and affection for them.

So the question remains: what blessings do we make idols? For many of us it is our homes, our careers, and our families. We work so hard for all of those things, but we forget that all of those things are from God. Jonah did incredible things for God’s army. Jonah slept in the belly of the fish. He was tossed overboard. He witnessed repentance of one of the worst cities in the world. Yet, at the end of the day it was still all about Jonah. When we accept Jesus we accept all of Jesus. This means we accept the portions of Jesus that says things like “turn the other cheek” or “let him without sin cast the first stone.” Christ came to show us what humility looks like. Nothing Jesus did was for his own benefit. Do you understand that? The only benefit Jesus received from his life and sacrifice was a relationship with us. That is how much He loves us. He was willing to submit his entire being for us to be free in God’s love.

For you and for me, its not about being right. Its not about being famous or making the most money. Our lives are about one thing: spreading the love of Jesus. How do we do this? We become like Jesus. We put others first 100% of the time even when the sun is beating on your face and your self-pity is telling you to be angry. The greatest lie that Satan tells us is that life is about you. That is incorrect. Life is about Jesus. Jesus is life. Without Him we would not exist. Now, turn to Him and experience the peace that comes from knowing that you are already taken care of. Time to take care of others.