JONAH was an unwilling servant of God. First, he fled as far towards Tarshish as he could from the presence of the Lord, on receiving the commission to “go to Nineveh,” and to “cry against it”; next, he was angry when, having, by divine constraint, delivered his message, Nineveh repented and was spared the impending judgment.
He knew that God was good, and hence he did not care to go to Nineveh to proclaim ·divine wrath against it, for he tells us how he had said, “I pray Thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country?... I knew that Thou art a gracious. God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil” (ch. 4:2). He was convinced that God would accept the repentance of Nineveh and spare it, and that, consequently, his testimony would not be fulfilled. His own glory was much upon his heart, hence, when “God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them,” he was” displeased exceedingly,” and “very angry.”
Yet what honor God placed upon the testimony of Jonah, for Nineveh was spared through his preaching to it that which God had bidden him. The testimony was honored, but the prophet was made little of―at least in his own eyes.
Having delivered his message, we observe him sitting under the booth he had made, opposite Nineveh, “till he might see what would become of the city,” and vexed and indignant because God was good and spared it.
Since Jonah writes his own history, and tells us his faults openly, we may safely accept that, in the end, he accepted the gracious will of God. Hence, as we read the history of Jonah, we feel that the lesson for us rather respects the prophet than his prophecy.
If God sends us on an errand, let us seek grace to be brave enough to accomplish it, and not, like Jonah, to flee from the presence of the Lord; and more, let us seek grace also to be humble enough to let go our own thoughts about ourselves, as sent by God, and to be merely servants upholding God’s character. It is really of no importance what people may say of us; the important matter is the message of God, and its reception or rejection. Too many of God’s servants resemble Jonah in thinking almost more of themselves than of the message they have to carry. Their dignity seems of greater concern to them than the dignity of the message of God. The apostle could say, “We are fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Cor. 4:1010We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honorable, but we are despised. (1 Corinthians 4:10)), and certainly, when the word of God, with which we are entrusted, prevails in our souls, we shall not care for our personal honor and glory.
Further, let us consider God’s ways with us. Has He withered our gourd? Have we been exposed to an “east wind”? Let us examine ourselves as servants of God, and remember His dealings with us. There are special dealings of God with His servants, and which relate to our service, or our behavior in our service, and we should be careful to observe these things.
Moreover, if the sense of our dignity has introduced itself into our service, let us, like Jonah, confess our folly, and humble ourselves under the gracious hand of God.