Jonah, God, and Me

In four days, both my husband and I found out that we were suddenly without jobs. My mind and heart went on a roller coaster ride. I felt the whole spectrum of emotions: anger, sadness, disappointment, fear, hope, despair, confusion.

I cried out to God in prayer, God, what are you doing? Where is the good in this?

During this prayer, words from the book of Jonah came to my mind, Do you do well to be angry?

YES God, I do well to be angry. I have good reason to be angry.

And again, God’s words to Jonah came back to me. Do you do well to be angry for the plant?

The plant.

In chapter four of Jonah, God appointed a plant to grow. The word appointed is mentioned three times. First, God appointed a plant to grow to give shade to Jonah. Second, God appointed a worm to eat the plant. Third, God appointed a hot wind to blow and the sun to beat down on Jonah’s head.

God appointed. He ordered and caused.

At the time God appointed the plant to grow, Jonah was sitting on a hill stewing in his anger. He stormed out of the city of Nineveh, because his plan for his life and the Ninevites did not happen. God’s plan was not his plan, and he was angry with God. 

It is in this moment that God appointed the plant to grow and give shade to Jonah. The plant saved Jonah from his discomfort and he was glad for the plant. With his plans gone and his back turned from God, he clung tightly to the plant for hope and comfort. 

When God appointed the worm to take the plant away and the sun to beat down on Jonah’s head, Jonah was again angry. Without the plant, he was left exposed.

But why did God appoint the plant, the worm, the wind, and the sun? Why did God give something to Jonah, only to take it away? On the surface, it seems cruel and unjust of God to toy with Jonah in this way.

Jonah had clung to the plant for hope and now there was nothing to cover him. With his heart clinging tightly to his plans for hope and his physical body clinging tightly to the plant for comfort, how could Jonah cling to God?

We cannot serve two masters: for either we will hate the one, and love the other; or else we will cling to the one, and despise the other. We cannot both trust in God and trust in our plans.

Instead of trusting in God alone, Jonah trusted in his plans. Instead of looking to God for comfort, Jonah looked to the plant.

God appointed the plant to grow because He loved Jonah. God appointed the plant to die and the sun to beat down on Jonah’s head because He loved Jonah. In love, God knew that He alone was what Jonah truly needed. No plant, nothing in the world, and no plans Jonah could make would ever give true hope. Jonah needed God.

God both gave and took away the plant to compassionately lead Jonah back to Himself.

This plant. These circumstances. It was all for Jonah’s good and for God’s glory, that all people might come to know God, that Jonah may know God.

Okay so, why exactly is God bringing Jonah and this plant to mind during prayer?

Losing my job was disappointing. My husband and I both losing our jobs in the same week is scary. Our plans for the next year had to be put on hold, and they may be getting thrown out of the window altogether. I have no feeling of control or direction in this situation. 

Like Jonah, I feel a loss of control and am frustrated that the plans I made are not happening. Like Jonah, I clung to things in this world for hope. Like Jonah, I feel angry. I am struggling to accept that God is in control and His way is good.  

Yes, God, I do well to be angry for the plant. I do well to be angry for losing our jobs.

God responds to Jonah’s anger over the plant in chapter 4, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And shouldn't I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons…?”

Point blank, God cares about people. God cares about all people. He cares about people who are far from Him. He cares about Ninevites, and He cares about Jonah. 

God knows that what is best for Jonah and what is best for me is Himself.

Jonah and I get so wrapped up in our plans, our worries, and our concerns. We both are angry about losing things that we have no control over. We are both angry that our well thought out plans are not happening. We are both angry that the things of the world that brought us comfort are gone.

But as much as Jonah and I care about our plans and our well being, God cares for us even more. For our good, He wants to be our source of comfort and hope.

God appoints circumstances to grow and to die to bring me back to Himself. God is using my circumstances to compassionately lead me back to Him because He is best for me. He is what I need. 

God, the plant gave me shade in the heat, without it I will surely die. 

God, our jobs put food on the table, a shelter over our heads, and clothes on our bodies, without it, how will we live?

The book of Jonah isn’t the only place in Scripture where we see God use plants as an example of His compassion for us. Jesus talks about plants and God’s care for people in Matthew 6.

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

Will He not much more. Oh, how God cares for his children. We are of more value to Him than anything else in all creation. 

God cares for me more than I can imagine. But when I cannot see hope, it feels hard to believe that God is caring for me. Things I can see, a job and money in the bank, feel much easier to trust in. 

But like the plants and the grass of the field, those things are here today and gone tomorrow. The only One who remains is Jesus.

My circumstances have not changed. We still don’t have jobs, and we are still unsure of what life will look like in the future. But I am fighting, choosing to daily believe when I cannot see that God cares deeply about people. God cares deeply about me. He is what I need.

Will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

This plant. These circumstances. It is all for my good and for His glory, that all people may know God, that I may know God. Increase my faith, God. I believe, but help me in my unbelief.

Written by friend of Reaching Her, Gretchen Brewer