The Path Around the Simple

Jonah 3-4

Nineveh Repents

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you." 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk. 4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk; and he cried out and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown."
5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. 6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. 7 He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. 8 "But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. 9 "Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish."
10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

Jonah's Displeasure Rebuked

1 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. 3 "Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life." 4 The LORD said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?"

It took Jonah a while to get to Nineveh...he didn't really want to go. He had heard the Word of God...Jonah knew it to be true...and he still ran away. Jonah fled in the opposite direction, in fact...and it would take being swallowed by a great fish to give him pause about fleeing anymore.

Jonah arrived in Nineveh...ready for a fight. He had been dispatched to one of the greatest cities in the world to yell at them for being evil, and to tell them that God was going to punish them...he was not expecting a warm welcome.

"God, why can't you just do it?"

Though those exact words aren't in the Bible, that certainly was the response that Jonah had to God's calling.

Eventually Jonah makes it to Nineveh...eventually Jonah carries God's message to the people. Jonah is prepared to endure the laughs, the spitting, the hatred. Jonah knows that this won't be pretty.

Imagine his surprise when, the population instantly repents, and is spared from the wrath of God.

Jonah is....pissed.

Having gone through what he went through (hello...eaten by a big fish???), the battle in Nineveh proved to be a cakewalk. While others would be thankful for the success of the mission, Jonah is just really annoyed.

"Why did I have to go through all this when they were already ready to repent?" "Why did you have to bother me when you could have done everything that I did in an instant?"
"What's the deal?"

Then, if that gigantic dose of whining isn't enough, Jonah places an exclamation point on it, "I'm just going to go off and die now."

One of the most frustrating things in life is realizing that things would have been so much easier, if you had just faced them head on. When you struggle against great odds, tough opposition, and even your own ignorance, it is hard to be told that the answer was really just in taking the right first step.

Finding out that the girl you had no chance with really thought you were cute in high school, seeing the people with that tough major in school doing much better than you in their careers, or finding your wallet in your pants pocket after you tore the house apart....all of them moments when we realize that time was wasted.

For many, answering God's call is similar. Some know they should be going to church, many know they should be feeding the homeless and clothing the poor; but, even for those in the know, there are a lot of great reasons to just push things off. There are other things to do....I'll get around to it.

The frustration for many who return to church communities(or a life of faith), is that they realize that they have ended up taking long, difficult paths through life...many times just because they couldn't be bothered to take the easy/right path that seemed a bit annoying at the time.

Often the path to Nineveh, even though it seems unwelcoming and uncomfortable, ends up being the easy road. The path around our calling and our conscience, more times than not, ends up being an easy first step followed by many more taken in lonliness and pain.

Like Jonah, many of us realize that the path we have taken was the wrong one...and that doing what was right would have been so much easier. The challenge is whether or not we allow that bitterness to keep us off the right path or, now having a better compass, get on the road we should have been on all along.