Jonah sits in the desert heat at the edge of Nineveh, waiting to watch judgment fall. Then God does something quiet but full of care and love: He grows a plant to shade him. It was yet another mercy-gift, and Jonah doesn't seem to notice.
Jonah has said his piece. Nineveh has repented, God has relented, and Jonah has made his anger known.
Now he walks out of the city and finds a spot at its eastern edge. He builds a shelter and sits down in the desert heat. He's biding his time, hoping to watch God's judgment fall on Nineveh.
Then while Jonah waits, God does something quiet but full of care and love. He creates a leafy plant to grow up over Jonah's head to shade him from the heat. (I wonder if Jonah even noticed it happening?!)
We don't often stop to think about this, but a plant doesn't just appear on its own.
God prepared it.
He carefully brought this plant into existence, in this place, for this man, at this particular time.
It is another mercy-gift from the LORD, but Jonah doesn't even seem to notice it as one.
Inside our study we take a moment to picture it, putting ourselves inside the scene to connect more deeply with Jonah.
- Looking down at the city from the shade, what might Jonah have been expecting to see?
- What might he have been rehearsing in his mind as he waited, now comfortable and out of the heat?
- How might the shade have shaped the way he felt about waiting?
Verse 6 says Jonah was "exceedingly glad" about the plant but if we add our five senses into the consideration:
- What might Jonah have felt as the shade settled over him?
- What might he have heard and smelled out there on the hillside?
- What might he have tasted, whether the dust in the air, his own sweat or the water he'd brought along?
- Where does his gratitude show up in the text, and where might it be hiding between the lines?
We read and see Jonah's experience differently when we connect with him as he sits far off from the city, waiting for the LORD.
Then overnight, God allows a worm to attack Jonah's leafy plant. So much so, that it completely withers. The sun comes up, a scorching east wind blows, and Jonah grows faint. If we read the verses slowly and we might ask:
- What changed for Jonah's body, and what might have changed in his thoughts?
- How far did he fall between "exceedingly glad" and "it is better for me to die than to live"?
Jonah is still waiting for a judgment on Nineveh that will not come, at least not in his lifetime. Notice how quickly his gratitude turned to despair once the comfort was gone. Consider how his physical environment might have influenced his thoughts toward the situation, towards God.
Then God asks Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?" It's the same question He had asked in verse 4, and He asks it again. And Jonah answers that he has every right to be angry, even to death.
But read Jonah's answer a second time.
Where is his attention still fixed?
Jonah only wants what he thinks is fair. And God is trying to move Jonah's eyes somewhere else, but unfortunately just Jonah can't see it.
Scripture gives us another place to look:
- Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to run with our eyes fixed on Jesus.
- Micah 7:7 says, "I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation."
- Philippians 3:20 reminds believers that our citizenship is in heaven, and that we wait for our Savior from there.
If you look at each of these verses in your own Bible like we do in our study, what do you notice about where each one tells us to look? What we are doing while we look?
Jonah had a plant for a day, and he mistook it for the point. What might the plant be in your life, the comfort or the sense of fairness you are tempted to hold tightly? What would it look like to lift your eyes from it?
I don't know about you, but this Devotional Ripple hits my-need-to-control HARD. But I so appreciate God's patience and gentleness as He continues to meet Jonah right where he's at ... carefully attempting to redirect Jonah, knowing full well that Jonah's story isn't going to end tied up with a perfect bow.
