A servant of God who did
not imitate God’s loving heart.
The
prophet Jonah, who had been disobedient,
received
salvation from God twice.
The
first salvation occurred when the unbelieving sailors,
at
Jonah's suggestion, threw him into the sea.
God
had already prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, thus saving him
(Jonah
1:12, 16, 17).
The
second salvation happened when God
commanded
the great fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land,
thus
saving him from being in the belly of the fish (2:10).
However,
even after experiencing God's salvation twice,
the
prophet Jonah, who proclaimed God's word, believed it,
proclaimed
a fast (3:1-5), and turned from evil ways, genuinely repenting.
Yet,
when God relented from bringing the disaster He had threatened
against
the people of Nineveh who also repented (v. 10),
Jonah
became exceedingly displeased and angry,
even saying, "It is better for me to die
than to live" (4:1, 3).
How
could Jonah, the servant of God
who
received salvation twice
at
the crossroads of life and death due to his disobedience,
be so
displeased and angry when the Ninevites,
who
lived in disobedience and committed evil deeds,
repented
and received salvation?
It is
because he did not imitate the heart of God,
who
cherishes those who cannot distinguish between good and evil (v. 11).
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