1) Jonah’s Attitude

Jonah 4:1-2 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 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. 

• You 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.” 

2) God Answers

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

• When God asks questions, it’s not because He does not know the answer. He is trying to teach a lesson.

Jonah 4:9-11 But 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.” 10 And the LORD said, “You pity (have compassion for) 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. 11 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?”

Should I not have compassion on them as well?

3 lessons from Jonah:

1) God still loves Nineveh

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

2) God knows you and He loves you and He is still working on you

• Be with Jesus. Become like Jesus. Do what Jesus did.

• Like Jonah, we all deal with

  • Attitude
  • Anger
  • Prejudices

3) God is still inviting us to go to Nineveh