Angry with God - Jonah 4

    There was no quick way to get to Ninevah from where Jonah found himself, spit up from the belly of the giant fish. While many scholars had debated where exactly Jonah had found himself, it would seem that he was probably right back bear where he started in Joppa. If that's accurate, it was then a 500 mile journey to Ninevah. A lot of time to think. A lot of time to ponder what he was going to say. A lot of time to dwell of what God was going to do. 

    And apparently what Jonah expected God to do was what he wanted God to do.

    Jonah thought that God would show the Ninevites mercy. Which seemed to be the exact opposite of what Jonah himself desired.

    Just as there was no quick way to get to Ninevah, so there are no short cuts to obeying God. We either obey God or we don't. We either find ourselves in line with the will of God or we find ourselves going our own way. 

  

     While it looked like Jonah was obeying God, he really put his own heart and his own desires first. Which his reaction to God showing the Ninevites mercy revealed.

    How often have we been there as well? Having a thin appearance of following God, but really we were making it all about us - what we wanted, what we expected, what we thought we would get out of it. Let us, like the Ninevites, repent, and turn our whole sevles, including our deisre and will, back to God.