10 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. 11 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?”

 

We might think this is a story about Jonah and the whale, or about Jonah’s rebellion or about Nineveh’s repentance. The story about Jonah is not about any of those things. The story of Jonah is about the very heart of God and here is what we learn.

           

Each time the Lord asks a question, He gets more direct and pointed to the real problem of Jonah. Jonah builds a little shelter for himself. He is separating himself. Religious separatists only want to be with their own and not with others who aren’t just like themselves. Some don’t want contact with anyone else. Jonah didn’t want to serve anymore. Things hadn’t gone his way. I am sorry to say, I’ve heard that among people in the church.  Some had served on a committee, or ladies program, or an officer in church and things didn’t go their way, and they won’t serve anymore. I mean some won’t even come to church anymore because they didn’t get their way.

 

God isn’t done using Jonah or you and me or anyone else, so there is something else that needs to be looked at than hurt feelings. There are tasks within our church that could be done if someone with the gifts and abilities were willing to do them. God wants to use all people together as well as individually within His church. At a celebration of our church, I received emails from people who have moved away from Stanchfield Baptist and were so encouraged by saints of years gone by. One person shared how songs he learned from various men in the church encouraged him. Another commented on song leaders who inspired him. One wrote, “Unlike some Baptists, Stanchfield was always positive and not contrary or negative in their approach to presenting the Gospel and had ecumenical activities.  So, I wanted to write a particular note of thanks. After the service started the deacons would come up quietly and would sit in the front two pews.  I remember likening them in my mind to the 12 disciples, so much respect was held by me and others for them. When I have been asked why so many came out of our church who went into ministry in one way or another, I tell them it was because of the attitude that was fostered in us, all wrapped in a gift of prayer, that started with those deacons."  

 

Jonah learned obedience but needed his heart changed to be one who loved like God loves. He needed to love God more and love others in the fellowship and outside. He needed a compassionate heart toward others and God questions his heart with the final question that nails it home. “Should not I pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,00 people?” That is the thing that the Lord wanted to bring home to Jonah. Jonah pitied a plant that wasn’t an eternal item.

 

Well, Jonah, if you are concerned about the plant, what about all the children of Nineveh who do not even know their right hand and left hands? They have no knowledge of what their parents and grandparents are doing. What about those cows in the fields chewing their cuds? They have nothing to do with the evil their masters' have done. Could you not even understand that I would want to save them from destruction for their sake?"

 

Sin even affects animals and children.

 

          Dale