Running Ahead of God
By Jeff Cranston
In the Book of Jonah, we read about the journey of a prophet of God. In Jonah’s journey, we’ve seen seasick sailors and watched them throw their cargo overboard. We envisioned Jonah spending 72 hours in the belly of a big fish and later spewed out onto dry ground. We have also seen him walking the streets of Nineveh, preaching God’s Word, which results in pagan people turning to God. Because of God’s compassion, He did not bring the destruction that he had threatened to Nineveh. What was Jonah’s response to God’s love, mercy, grace and compassion? Read Jonah 3:10 and Jonah 4.
After so many had turned to God in Nineveh, there was rejoicing in the heart of God, but there was no rejoicing in the heart of Jonah. He was still thinking about his home in Israel more than he was thinking about Nineveh. The Hebrew language in Jonah 4:2 makes it very strong: “… while I was still in my very own land.” “My” is the key to understanding Jonah’s issues: “My country, my calling, my people, my perspective, my way.” As long as obeying God was good for him and his country, he would obey; but when he thought his obedience to God would not benefit him or his country, God’s will and God’s Word were brought into question.
In Jonah 4:3, Jonah says, “Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” Jonah had created something in his head that did not line up with what God was doing, and he was unable to handle it. In some sense, Jonah was smack in the middle of a midlife crisis. He no longer knew who he was or what he was to do. He had no joy or fulfillment in his career. He felt like a man without a country, without a home and without a people. He lost his identity; he might as well lose his life.
Then in Jonah 4:4, God asks Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry?’” Jonah doesn’t even answer God. He left and went east of the city and made himself a shelter. He was despondent. Any good counselor can see Jonah spiraling into introspection and withdrawal. He sat on a hillside overlooking Nineveh with the hope that “If I sit here for 40 days maybe I will see God change His mind again and destroy the city.” At least that’s what he seems to be wishing for. What a contrast between the genuine love of God and the self-centered love of Jonah!
Now we come to the final set of miracles in this little book. You would have thought God would’ve gotten through to him through the storm at sea, or the miracle of him surviving the great fish, or the miracle of a great city that genuinely repented. But no, Jonah finally hears God through a much smaller avenue:
“So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.” – Jonah 4:6
Jonah gets so excited about having this plant as shade, but that lasted only one day:
“But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, ‘Death is better to me than life.’ Then God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘I have good reason to be angry, even to death.’ Then the Lord said, ‘You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?’” – Jonah 4:8-11
God wanted Jonah to see the contrast between Him sparing Nineveh and Him destroying the vine. He wanted Jonah to see the contrast in saving people versus his concern for his physical comfort. Jonah’s view became distorted, caring more for his comfort than the spiritual destiny of hundreds of thousands of people. (By the way, when God referenced, “… the 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand…” most Bible scholars believe that God is there referring to children.) Let me point out four simple applications from this ancient story for us.
1. God still loves Nineveh!
Where is Nineveh today? Nineveh is Bluffton. Nineveh is Savannah. Nineveh is Hilton Head and Pritchardville and Hardeeville and Ridgeland and Beaufort and Okatie. Wherever you find people, there you find Nineveh in all its splendor and power and glory and greed and brutality and evil. It’s all there, mixed together, the good with the bad, the light with the darkness.
And the message is clear: God still loves Nineveh! He still loves Bluffton. He still loves our neighborhoods and communities. He sees all the sin—not the tiniest bit escapes His vision—but it does not turn back His heart of love for us.
2. God still wants His children to go to Nineveh.
God’s heart has never changed. He has never stopped loving the great cities of the world: Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, London, Nairobi, Kabul, La Paz, Moscow, Kiev, Sao Paulo, Osaka, Mexico City, Melbourne, and Washington, D.C.
God still loves the cities and towns because that’s where the people are. But wherever people gather, you also find crime, drugs, prostitution, hatred, class warfare, greed, murder, broken lives, broken homes, broken dreams. That’s why God’s children must go to them all. The people need us there, and God wants us there!
3. God is still willing to do whatever it takes to get you to Nineveh!
For Jonah, that meant spending three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish. What will God have to do to get you to follow and obey Him? Our churches are filled with modern-day Jonahs who have taken a holiday cruise to Tarshish. Maybe you are one of them. Maybe God has spoken to you, and you have said, “God, I don’t think I can do that.” If so, I’ve got good news and bad news for you: The good news is: Don’t worry about that great storm on the horizon. It’s not going to get you. The bad news is: You’d better start worrying about that great fish!
God won’t force you to go to Nineveh. He’s looking for a life fully surrendered. But He will not give up on you, loving you through His discipline if He must, until you decide to go on your own. He just works in you until you are fully surrendered.
4. Nineveh needs you.
Think about this. Nineveh, despite its wickedness and violent sinfulness, was ready to turn to God. People didn’t realize it; they weren’t aware of their needs, and they weren’t looking for God in any way. But God, who sees everything, knew that this wicked city was set to turn to Him. If only He could find someone who would dare to travel there and give His message—the right person with the right message.
Jonah was God’s man for Nineveh! The world is full of Ninevehs today … and God is still looking for someone to go there. Nineveh was, first of all, a literal city; it existed in history. But it also represents all the great cities of the world.
But Nineveh is even more personal than that. It stands for:
That place only you can go.
That person only you can reach.
That opportunity only you can fill.
You’ve got a Nineveh in your life right now. It might be a friend where you work. It might be that group you hang around with after school. It might be your neighbors down the street, or the women in your book club, or the group you golf with, or the moms in the carpool line you group text with. Your Nineveh might be your husband or wife or even your grown-up children. Your Nineveh might be a new job in a new place or a home on a new street. Nineveh ultimately stands for any part of the will of God that you are afraid to face.
You’re afraid to go … but God wants you there.
You’re afraid to speak up … but there are people who need to hear what you have to say.
You’re afraid to make a move … but God says, “Trust me.”
Nineveh is calling you today. What will you do about it?
Jeff Cranston is the lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, South Carolina.