Our Gracious God & His Pouting Prophet

(Jonah 4)

1. The Pouting Prophet• Jonah Prays (vs. 1-3)

• Jonah Leaves (vs. 5)

2. Our Gracious God• A Question (v.4)

• An Illustration (vs. 6-9)

• An Application (vs. 10-11)

Jonah 4

Jonah 4:1-3,5But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."…

Jonah 4:1-3,5Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.

Jonah 4:1But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

SAY WHAT???• God’S Prophet is ANGRY at the

Repentance of Ninevah?

Simple Principle• Neither Jonah nor we have any

right to challenge God on the way He chooses to extend His mercy

Scottish PastorUltimately divine grace towards sinners

cannot be understood, it does not have a reason, it simply reflects the way God is.

Jonah 4:2And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

“Gracious” & “Merciful”(Ex. 34:6-7) – The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands…

(Psalm 86:15) – But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness

(Joel 2:13) – Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

What is God like?• His SELF-REVELATION• Gracious, Merciful, Slow to Anger, Abounding in Love

• OUR PRESENTATION of Him• Stingy, Angry, Impatient, Quick Tempered, Quick to

Condemn, Judgemental

Ann LamottYou can tell you have made God in your image when it turns out He hates all the

same people you do.

Jonah 4:3 Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."

Alistair BeggOnly those who have been grasped by grace will be able to rejoice in the superabundance of God’s grace lavished upon those who are

so clearly undeserving

Jonah 4:5Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.

James BoiceIt is a warning that it is possible to obey God

but to do so with such a degree of unwillingness and anger that, so far as we are concerned, the obedience is no better

than disobedience

James BoiceWe often act the same, even when we are

apparently obeying God. We are doing what we think we should be doing, living the kind of life we think a Christian should live. But

secretly we are unhappy and angry with God for making the requirement. For this reason

many Christians look and act miserable much of the time

Jonah 4:4And the LORD said, "Do you do well to be angry?"

Alistair BeggDoes Jonah, as a representative of a people chosen by God for no merit on their part…a people whom God has favored even when they’ve gone astray …as a prophet who, in

his disobedience, has personally known the saving hand of God on his life…does this

Jonah have any valid grounds for objecting if God, out of his mercy, shows his compassion

to other people?

Jonah 4:6Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.

Castor Oil Plant

Bottle Gourd

Jonah 4:7-8But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, "It is better for me to die than to live."

Matthew HenryWhat should especially silence our

discontent is that though our gourd be gone our God is not gone, and there is

enough in him to make up all our losses.

Job 1:20-21And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong

Matthew HenryWhat should especially silence our

discontent is that though our gourd be gone our God is not gone, and there is

enough in him to make up all our losses.

Jonah 4:9But God said to Jonah, "Do you do well to be angry for the plant?" And he said, "Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die."

Jonah 4:10-11And the LORD said, "You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"