Jonah 4:2
Jonah is angry at God, because He is merciful...
“So he prayed to the LORD, and said, ‘Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.’”
Jonah 4:2
Jonah is angry at God. Not because He destroyed the city of Nineveh, but because He saved it...
“So he prayed to the LORD, and said”
Jonah prayed. He went to the LORD. First he ran away, but now he turns toward God. Jonah wants to talk to the LORD. The LORD is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God who keeps His covenant.
“Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish;”
Jonah is making excuses. He says that he knew that God would spare the city. Jonah also says that this is why he fled to Tarshish. We can read about this in Jonah 1. Tarshish is often identified with a city in Spain.
Jonah is making an excuse for traveling to Tarshish. But this does not undo what he did. Jonah did not obey God and sinned by going away.
“For I know that You are a gracious and merciful God”
Throughout the Bible, believers call God gracious and merciful. This begins with Moses, when he saw the LORD. David and Joel also call God merciful and gracious.
- Exodus 34:6: “And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth;’”
- Psalm 86:5: “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.”
- Joel 2:13: “So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.”
- Nehemiah 9:31: “Nevertheless in Your great mercy You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; For You are God, gracious and merciful.”
“Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.”
God is slow to anger. He does not like to destroy people; He wants to save them. He does not enjoy the death of the wicked, but He delights when they turn from their ways and live. He is not willing that anyone should perish.
- Ezekiel 33:11: “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’”
- 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
Today’s lesson: Even though God saved the people of Nineveh, Jonah was still angry at Him. Angry because He did not punish the people, but spared them. He knew that God is gracious and merciful, and that is why Jonah is angry. How do we react when God saves someone who hurt us? Are we glad that they are saved? Do we rejoice? Or are we angry that God did not punish them?