Jonah 4:1-11
The Book of Jonah ends with no resolution. God did not destroy Nineveh, and this made Jonah angry. The Book of Jonah ends with Jonah’s great anger and frustration. When the plant God provided for shade dies, like a spoiled child, he says that he wishes he could just die, too.
If Jonah were a modern-day pastor or missionary, I am sure he would have written a blog post about the exponential growth of the church, the thousands who came to know the Lord, posted picture on his social media pages and the church would have featured this story in all of its news outlets. Instead, Jonah was furious. He was furious that he was right—God was, indeed, slow to anger and abounding in love.
I remember my dad saying, on more than one occasion, “Life isn’t fair!” But are we not so thankful that life is not fair? If life were fair, we would all deserve the hell-fire and brimstone of Nineveh. If life were fair, God would not have sent his only son to die for the rapist, the cheat, the murder, the liar . . . and for me. Thank God that life truly is not fair.
Author: Rachelle Miller