The Jonah in me...

Early July I came to find out about the death of a senior official at my work place who had to resign earlier in the year for using his official authority for a private matter. He was sixty seven. He was a person whom I did not really care for.  I did not have any respect for him, and did not feel a bit bad when he had to resign. I felt he deserved it. In my eyes he was arrogant, pompous, a hypocrite, a liar, and thought his actions were always self serving.  My opinion of him was formed from my experience of him. When I first joined the office he exerted his authority over me (a much lower tiered staff) to force me to do something that I thought was not right.  Basically he said to, "do it because I am telling you to and get it done now." I had also heard about a wilder side to him while he fronted a very respectful face in the public. So you know, when he had to resign (fired) I felt he got what he deserved.

Upon hearing of his death, my feelings were not the same as when he was fired, I felt guilt ridden. Like Jonah waited for Nineveh's fall, my conscience pricked me, I waited for his fall from grace, and a deserving punishment.   As a christian my testimony before Christ was less than becoming.

When we read the book of Jonah, we see a reluctant prophet, who when God told him to go to the great city of Nineveh to announce the coming judgement of God against that city, he took a ship in the opposite direction of Nineveh. For he did not want to announce to this city of his hatred about God's judgement, just in case they repented and God forgave them.  His prophecy would seem wrong, and besides, he wished for nothing but the total destruction of that city and its citizens.  I used to wonder why Jonah hated the Ninehvites, until I read Isaiah 37 and 2 Kings 18. There had been a long standing enmity between the people of Israel and Judah and the Assyrian empire. Just to mention one event from the Bible between them, King Sennacherib of Assyria was the cause of much pain and suffering in the land of Judah during his campaign against King Hezekiah. Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian empire.

Jonah was not always a reluctant prophet. He was the prophet in Israel during the time of King Jeroboam II of Israel. During the reign of this evil king, God used Jonah to prophesy the expansion of Israel and it happened just as Jonah had prophesied. "Jeroboam II recovered the territories of Israel between Lebo-hamath and the Dead Sea, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had promised through Jonah, son of Ammitai, the prophet from Gathhepher.  For the LORD saw the bitter suffering of everyone in Israel, and how they had absolutely no one to help them. (2 King 14:25-26).  In the case of Nineveh, the pride and prejudice of the prophet stood in the way of the mission that God had for the prophet.

God forced his prophet back to the great city of Nineveh to deliver his message, the same way he removed King Sennacherib from his campaign against the kingdom of Judah.  God told Sennacherib "I will make you return by the road on which you came." (Isaiah 37:29). God put His "hook" in his nose and His "bridle" in his mouth, so to speak! As Jonah ran in the opposite direction of where God wanted him to go, God caused a great storm to arise causing the ship to almost capsize until the ship's crew cast lots and Jonah was tossed into the waves to save the rest.  The Bible teaches us in the Book of Jonah that God caused a great fish to swallow Jonah and after three days and nights caused the fish to vomit him on to the shore. Jonah finally goes to Nineveh and half-heartedly preached God's message of impending doom against the Ninehvites unless they turned back to God and left their sinful ways. The Ninehvites upon hearing the message were pricked in their heart and cried out to God in repentance and asked for his mercy.  Jonah was so sure that the wickedness of the Ninehvites was so beyond salvation that he withdrew to a distance to wait and watch the coming punishment from God. At last, the city and the people whom he hated will meet with just punishment.  I had done the same though I never shared my Christ to this gentleman.

As Jonah waited in the dry hot desert to witness the destruction of Nineveh, God gave him temporary reprieve and comfort by providing for him shade by having a leafy plant to grow over his head for which Jonah was very grateful. The next morning God had the plant destroyed by a worm that he had created to eat away at  the plant. As Jonah became bitter at God for letting the plant die, God asked him if it was okay for him to be so bitter over the life of a plant when a great city like Nineveh was on the verge of God's destructive punishment. Jonah was taught a lesson by God on why he loved to forgive the sinners who repented.

We wish for the worst for our enemies and tormentors, but God only wishes that they knew him. What have we done to make that possible? What did I do for this senior executive to find God? I can't recall once praying for this person, though I recall in my heart cheering at his fall from grace.  I will not have an answer on that day if Christ should ask me - why did you not care?

Let not our pride and prejudices stand in the way of God's mission for mankind, for God has given his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Did not He who made me in the womb make them?

Did not the same One fashion us in the womb? (Job 31:15, NKJV)