27. What about… (1)

Confronting Anxiety Meditations No.27: What about… (1)

Jonah 4:9 “But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”  “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

Niggly Questions: Questions arise, especially when we are facing or have been through ‘trying times’, as I have been seeking to show in these latest studies. At such times the biggest question the enemy whispers to us is, “Is there actually a God, if there is, does He really love you, because surely if He did, He would be here helping you out of this mess.”  

Not my fault, so why… Sometimes things happen that were not of our making. A friend, family member, acquaintance, colleague, gets miffy with you, wrongly blames you, accuses you. It’s worse when it’s your partner and a blazing row arises. These sorts of things you could do without! I didn’t start it! Why, God, did you allow this to happen? Of course He didn’t it’s just the way fallen people act sometimes and we simply need God’s grace to cope with them. Easier said than done. But of course sometimes we have caused the upset, the crisis, or at least contributed to it, and that is even more difficult to face. Sometimes it takes quite a while to be able to say, “Yes, that was down to me. I’m sorry.”

Jonah’s Niggle: But there is the whole, different category of things where we look out on the world, more often than not to do with people, and we see unrighteous situations and think, “God, why aren’t you dealing with them?”  We dealt with that when we thought about Habakkuk’s struggles in Study No.23. But that’s not a million miles away from Jonah’s struggles at the end of his book. Chapter 3 finishes with, “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened,” (Jon 3:10) and chapter 4 then continues straight on, “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.” (4:1) He then puts forward his viewpoint: “He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” (4:2) i.e. I knew there was no point in me going, I knew you would back down!

Seeing through the exhaustion: But in that, we might suggest, he is exhibiting an ancient form of post traumatic stress disorder. He’s exhausted and he’s clearly not thinking straight. If he was, he would realise two things: First, God only relents once there has been repentance and, second, for people to repent they have to first be challenged by God’s word. So yes, the repentance came, and God relented BECAUSE Jonah had gone! The Lord is very gentle with Jonah – He understands his state – and simply replies, “Do you have a good reason to be angry?” (Amp v.4) But Jonah is not listening. He stomps off out of the city to watch from a distance to see if God might change His mind.

The next phase: So he sets up a shelter and settles down to watch. (v.5) The Almighty then shows He has a sense of humour for He first gets a plant to rapidly grow up and give more shelter to Jonah – which he appreciates (v.6c) – but then He allowed a worm to come the next day, chew the root so it withered. (v.7) Jonah is now doubly upset. You can almost imagine him, spluttering something like, “Oh, for goodness sake, it’s all going wrong, I might as well die!” (v.8) So the Lord starts up a new conversation with him and asks him if it’s right to be angry about the plant? (v.9a) You bet it is, is his answer. So the Lord gently probes further and points out that Jonah was concerned for a plant while He, the Lord, was concerned to save the 120,000 people living in Nineveh (when they repented). A little exercise on logistics and regaining perspective.

The Lord’s Gentleness: But what is happening here? Several things. First, Jonah has lost perspective. Second, God treats him very gently. Third, Jonah continues to defend himself. Fourth, the Lord gently points out the reality of the situation to him.

And Us? Be honest, we lose perspective and get (wrongly) upset with God,  but may I suggest that wherever that happens, the Lord is gently working to get us straightened out, even if that takes years. Redemption sometimes (mostly?) starts with the Lord straightening out our crooked thinking. You may not be able to see it yet, but if you are anxious or upset about your circumstances, may I gently suggest it is because you have lost perspective and you need to be able to see those circumstances through God’s eyes, eyes that see everything, understands what is going on, what is wrong and what needs righting.

And So: Jesus came and died on the cross for you and me, so that we may have the chance of being straightened out. Have you got ANY situation today that is causing you stress? Is it time to sit quietly with the Lord and ask Him to help you see the truth in it all?