“JONAH GOES TO THE WOODSHED"

Text: Jonah 4

When the term “Woodshed” is used in the context of someone being taken there, those of us who are a little older certainly understand what is meant. As we come to chapter 4 of Jonah (the conclusion), we read how the Lord had to take Jonah to that preverbal “woodshed” – which we all have experienced at one time or another.

This really is an interesting chapter of Scripture because it deals with a servant of God who really didn’t want to obey God, who only obeyed. After all, the classroom of the “great fish” wasn’t too fun. I hope you already read the fourth chapter of Jonah before you began reading my thoughts concerning this chapter. Back in chapter three, we read about the greatest response to a man preaching God’s message. In 3:5, it tells us that “everyone in Nineveh believed God” and repented – even the King of Nineveh repented.

So, think about this. A Prophet with a bad attitude, disobedient, and was running away from God’s call on his life, ends up going to Nineveh and preaching, and everyone in this large city repents and turns to God. Certainly, this raises a lot of questions. As a student of the Word of God, I have to step back and realize that a man coming to salvation is all a work of God and not man. As we read the third chapter, it seems as though Jonah is unusable. Yes, God had already taken him to Woodshed #1 when he spent three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. When the fish vomits him up on the shore in 2:10, we all thought that Jonah had learned his lesson and now would submit to his office of being a Prophet. We really don’t get a glimpse into Jonah’s heart until we come to 4:1, where we read that Jonah was angry! When Jonah saw this large city turn to God, 4:1 says that “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly.” The Hebrew language would be better translated here that when Jonah saw the people of the city repent, “it was exceedingly evil to Jonah.” Jonah did not want God to show these sinners mercy. In fact, in verse 2, he tells God how he feels via a prayer. Listen to his words:

“O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”

Jonah hated the Ninevites! Sure, he had his own reasons – but it wasn’t his job to decide who would repent and come to God by the Lord’s mercy. That was God’s decision, not Jonah’s. Jonah knew God’s attributes - he even quoted some of them, “a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.”

The drama here in this last chapter is so powerful that it keeps us on the edge of our seats as we read about this prophet with a bad attitude. So, Jonah gets his feelings off his chest – which hardly ever accomplishes anything – as seen here. God simply responds by saying, “Do you well to be angry?” You can just picture Jonah stomping off like an immature child who didn’t get their way. The text tells us how Jonah “went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there.”

This is almost comical. Did he think that after his prayer, God was going to change His mind and destroy Nineveh? He must have because Jonah went out to the east of the city and sat on a hill waiting for God to destroy these pagan sinners.

This is when God takes Jonah to Woodshed #2. God makes a plant grow up over Jonah to give him shade. Now Jonah is comfortable while he waits for the destruction of the city. 4:6b tells us that “Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.” Just a note, when things seem to be going good, it doesn’t mean God’s blessings; it could be that a powerful lesson is about to take place. That’s exactly what happened here in our story. God prepared a worm and a hot wind to make the plant die. The worm ate the roots of the plant, and the wind dried the plant out, so the hot sun was allowed to beat down on Jonah’s head. Now Jonah wants to die! It was just too hot for this prophet!

In verses 9-11, God reminds Jonah how wrong his thinking was. He cared more for the plant, “which came into being in a night and perished in a night,” than he did for a city of approximately 600,000 people, who would live for eternity because they repented.

I want to make a few applications from this chapter if you would allow.

Salvation is of the Lord!

Salvation is totally up to the Lord. The book of Ephesians tells us that we are saved by the great love and mercy of God. It’s by grace alone – lest man would boast concerning his part in it. John 3:16 reminds us that it was God who loved the world. It was God who gave His only son, and it’s God who gives eternal life.

A Pastor or a Prophet is only a servant of God.

I think too many pastors today believe that they are God. A Prophet and a Pastor is just a man, or better yet, a “Messenger,” as the book of Revelation says. My job is to preach and teach the Word of God. A Prophet was just a mouth-piece for God. We are servants! Salvation doesn’t rest in my hands. Sure, I must preach the Gospel and call for men to repent, but it’s God who does the saving and can turn a spiritually dead man into a man with abundant life.

God will deal with our Bad Attitudes

Hebrews 12 tells us all about how God chastens His children. Verse 10 tells us that this discipline is “for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.” God did not let Jonah get away with this stinking thinking, and He won’t allow it in our lives either.

Evangelism is a heart issue.

Jonah 4:10 tells us how Jonah had pity for the plant (which was temporal), but not for the people of Nineveh (which were eternal). Verse 9 tells us how Jonah had anger in his heart towards the Ninevites – again, a heart issue.

Cornerstone, if we are ever going to be the church that the Lord wants us to be, then we must have a heart for the lost, people who do not know Christ in a personal way. We will need to get involved in the lives of our neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family who are not saved. I’m so thankful for COVID. We’ve had time to re-think what church is all about. Many I have spoken to say that they are happy with sitting on the couch watching an online service. Oh, church, we need to get together and be motivated to go out to the highways and byways and bring in the blind, crippled, lame and lost people who are hurting and have no answers for eternity. Each of us has a life- raft; it’s called the Gospel. We can go out to where God sends up and proclaim a message of love and mercy.

Jonah learned his lesson!

Jonah was the author of this book. Only he could have known all the details it records. How humbling to write about yourself and having to come clean about how he reacted to God’s call to go to Nineveh. By chapter 4, Jonah tells of his hard heart and how God had to make a final point about temporal things versus eternal things – and what is most important. Jonah learned his lesson, as we do too when God has to take us to the woodshed for our disobedience. It encourages me that Jonah went from running away from God to learning his lesson on the east side of the desert overlooking a city full of souls.

The book of Jonah has been a blessing for me as a pastor. I have had to do a heart check on myself and my obedience to the Lord. It’s reminded me of what’s really important to God, and that it the souls of man.

I hope and pray that you have enjoyed this book study as well. Hopefully we will start meeting again in a few weeks; until then, keep checking your email for another challenge from God’s Word from Cornerstone Bible Church!

Love you all!

In His Grip,

Pastor Doc Seuss