Title: Jonah's Complaints/Jonah 4:1-5
Jonah entered Nineveh and went around the city for one day, warning of God's judgment.
After that, the people of Nineveh and even the king of Assyria fasted and a repentance movement arose.
Jonah, who witnessed these results, was very displeased with what God was doing.
So I was upset and started to confide in my complaints.
1. Jonah's complaint and protest against God (verse 1)
Verse 1 says, “Jonah hated it very much and was angry.”
It was not that Jonah hated the work of God in general, but that he hated it very much. And I was very angry.
Who was Jonah? He was a man with a sense of justice. The man's logic is to kill all the evil ones.
Therefore, there was a philosophy that it was right to kill all the people of Nineveh. And Jonah was correct in everything. I cried out exactly as God had commanded me, without adding or subtracting anything.
He was a true prophet. So, in Jonah's heart, if he had told him to cry out that this city would be destroyed after 40 days, he was wondering if it should have been destroyed since 40 days had passed.
When did Jonah complain? It was after he had worked hard at what he was assigned to do.
After completing the great work, he did everything when he felt he had done the most. The most important cause of Jonah's complaint was that it did not go his way.
God is the God of Israel. Because God was on Israel's side, he thought he was going to destroy Nineveh. But when I saw that Nineveh had not fallen after 40 days, I was upset.
Jonah should have left the results to God and thanked him for doing his part. And as a result of his warning of judgment, the repentance movement took place, so it should have been satisfactory.
2. Jonah prayed even when he was heartbroken.
Verse 2: “And he prayed to the Lord, saying, “O Lord, did I not say that I would do this when I was in my homeland? Therefore I have fled to Tarshish; You are gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great patience, For I knew that He was a God who turned and brought no evil.” said
Jonah was a man who knew how to pray to God no matter how upset he was.
People like me sometimes do not want to pray, do not want to talk to anyone, and do not want to meet anyone when things do not go their way, they feel upset and want to die.
Jonah has a habit of repenting at times, giving thanks at other times, and blaming God, complaining and protesting within a few days, just like a person who has no faith at all.
However, one good thing about Jonah was that he was a person who knew how to pray even when he was upset, pray even when he was resentful, and pray when he was sad.
When Jonah prayed, he gave the reason why he had fled to Tarshish when he was first called.
In other words, no matter how many days they shouted that Nineveh would fall after 40 days, they ran away because they knew that God would forgive and save them.
And he prayed, believing in God's graciousness, mercy, slowness to anger, and great patience.
3. Jonah prayed to God to kill him.
Verse 3 says, “O Lord, take my life now, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
These prayers are not sincere prayers. However, his prayer was a sign of strong dissatisfaction with God and an expression of protest.
If you really want to die, hang yourself up and die quietly, or if it's like these days, what do you pray for that will end if you drink a bottle of pesticide? Then why did Jonah want to die?
(1) He wanted to die because he was resentful of God, who forgave the people of the enemy's country without disrespecting them.
(2) I wanted to die because it didn't go my way.
(3) He wanted to die because of his pride. This was not the attitude of a true believer.
4. God rebuked Jonah.
Verse 4 says, “What is your wrath?”
Our Lord said, "Blessed are the meek," and "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
As a child of God, there is no justification for frequent anger or intense rage.
He said that we should be thankful that God's will has been done, so how is anger proper?
How could it be reasonable to get angry so quickly because you said it was not your way? How could it be reasonable for you to be angry over and over again because it didn't go your way?
The Bible says, "Man's anger does not bring about God's righteousness." No matter how right you are, you can't get support by being angry. That's why Proverbs 16:22 says, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his heart than he who takes a city." Also in Titus 1:7, referring to the qualifications of a bishop, he said, "I am not self-willed, I am not in a hurry to get angry." We need to be able to control our minds when we are angry.
5. Jonah's Ogi and Watching
A person must not believe that Jesus will come or believe in a whim. We need to find out what God's will is. One has to live according to one's will according to God's word, and one should not put aside God's will and endure with one's own stubbornness and coming. How was Jonah's error expressed?
1) He built a shelter for himself.
In verse 5, the first half says, "Jonah went out of the city and sat down on the east side of the city, and let's make a shelter for him there." 1 Samuel 2:3 says, "Those whom I honor I will honor, and those who despise me I will despise."
God's children must learn to think of God no matter what they do. However, Jonah has always lived a life of self-centeredness.
2) They expected Nineveh to fall.
In the second half of verse 5 of the text, “I sat under the shadow of the city and wanted to see what would happen to the city.” This symbol is called the symbol of Nolbu.
It is a symbol of the stomach hurting an in-law's living in a paddy field, hoping that the hated person will perish. It was Jonah who should be thankful and rejoice that there is good fruit because he preached and warned of judgment. However, Jonah was displeased with the repentance of the people of Nineveh and expected that even though they would repent, their sins would be punished.
The reason that Jonah complained and grumbled and continued to come to the end was because he did not understand the high will of God.
And it was because they did not understand God's broad love and grand plan. Because we are human, we may sometimes have resentments or complaints.
And complaining against God will only bring God's wrath.
That's why 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In everything give thanks."