Loathsome Dove Posted October 03, 2007 by Charles Howard

The final chapter in Jonah’s life terribly reminds me of the concluding installment of Star Wars: Episode VI Revenge of the Sith. ( I’m subtly confessing some of my secret obsessions.)  Anyway, if you have seen the above mentioned movie, you should remember the scene when Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader) and Obi Wan Kenobi engage in a bad action light saber duel, which leads to Obi Wan cutting off Darth Vader’s legs. As he laid there in anguish, near the lava flowing river, the piercing words, “I hate you!” were lashed out from Anakin’s loathsome, darkened heart and directed toward his former mentor and friend.

Use your mind’s eye and think back to a similar exchange between Jonah and the Lord God. As Jonah sits on the eastern side of the great city of Nineveh, watching and waiting for God’s condemnation to fall upon its sinful inhabitants, nothing happens. Little does Jonah know, but God took the message that Jonah proclaimed and melted the hard hearts of the Ninevites. It is Just like God to be merciful and relent His grip, thought Jonah. Out of raw anger, Jonah unbridled his own frustration at God.

·         What was his issue?

·         Why the frustration?

·         Where did the loathsome attitude come from?

In Jonah 4:2-3 the prophet of God confessed why he ran to the remote city of Tarshish upon God’s missional commission to Nineveh. Notice what he said,

“Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”

Jonah’s beef with God is three fold:

1.       Self-Righteousness:  God’s blessing did not need to go beyond Israel.

2.       Grace:  Jonah loathed the grace, mercy and love that God would grant to anyone outside Israel.

3.       Prejudice:  The prophet of God had no use for those outside of his “circles”.

Unfortunately, his personal beef with God planted seeds that sprouted a strong stalk of bitterness. Have you allowed harmful seeds to be planted in your life? What have they bloomed to be? What can be done to uproot them?

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

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