In The Same BoatSample

Losing What You Never Had

We looked through Jonah’s hissyfit yesterday. I pray that my attitude is never quite so juvenile as Jonah’s, however I’d best not look too closely…

Let’s take a final look at the God’s goodness and His sovereign will in the last chapter of Jonah.

Verses 4, 6 (NIV), "But the Lord replied, 'Is it right for you to be angry?'.... then the Lord provided a leafy plant 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."

Jonah is angry at God. As we saw in the beginning of the chapter, he’s throwing a tantrum when things didn’t go as planned. And yet, in this passage we see God still providing good, rest, respite to him… even in the midst of his disobedience and angst. God made a shade vine grow over him. His grace overflowed in a very physical way- and Jonah relished in it.

He was refreshed- and yet a change of heart didn’t occur despite God’s provision. 

The shade ended, the hot winds blew once again… and Jonah sank further into his resentment of God, even going so far as to say “I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” Whoa! Ungrateful much?!

Jonah demonstrates here what so many of us still struggle with today. This strange idea of entitlement, that God somehow owes us something. That the good things in life we deserve and are justifiably coming to us. 

I liken it to my children at Christmas- they wake up and find presents under the tree for them. They don’t necessarily deserve them but they’ve been lovingly picked out just for them just because I love them. They surely didn’t earn or pay for them, they were purchased with my money through my hard work. The gifts are freely given… and often (depending on their behavior) they are freely taken back. How often after receiving a great present have I found my boys fighting over them, resulting in me taking them back for a time. They pitch a fit, they cry hysterically, they bemoan how unfair it is that I took “their” toy away. How quickly possession occurs in their little minds! What they do not understand is that I, as ‘sovereign’ mom, gave them that toy and I can just as quickly take it away.

You see the picture here? As the scripture states, the shade provided Jonah was not of his doing, it was God’s grace. It was not tilled or nurtured by him, it was through God’s gardening that it grew. It was God’s gift to give and to take away. Yet so quickly after it appeared Jonah claimed it as his own- his very own, his precious (cue Gollum voice…)

REFLECTION:

How quickly do you claim God’s goodness in your life as your ‘own’… your deserved gift? 

How quickly do you close your fist around the present He gives you, and cry out in frustration and angst when He takes it away? Health, wealth, children, cars, houses, possession, spouses, everything. We received NOTHING of our own volition. It is ALL through the Father. His to give, His to take away.

Has God ever provided goodness, even in the midst of your disobedience? How did you respond… with joy and heartfelt change of attitude? Or perhaps with continued selfish entitlement? 

How often are your feelings affected by whether things are going well or not?

Unlike Jonah, who received a stern reprimand from God about his attitude, dear ones we must learn to hold our palms open at all times to the Holy One- both in the receiving of His gifts, but also in the easily giving back to Him when He takes away.

It’s all by His Sovereign hands- Adonai's will- El Elyon's permissive grace and mercy- that we give and receive. Let us keep open hands and open hearts in the good times and the bad.