who knows?

Guess what... it's Friday! And that means well, 1. its the weekend people! And secondly, its time for She Shares Truth! Also totally deserving of an exclamation point ;). If you didn't get a chance to read my post last Friday over Jonah 1&2 then check it out, here . I technically only touched on Jonah 1 but that is where my heart was at the time.

 This week is over Jonah 3&4.

In Jonah 3 the chapter begins with our Father directing Jonah to Nineveh once again. And this time Jonah is sure to listen. He goes in shouting 

"Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

and the Ninevites believed God. God amazes me. A people that Jonah thought so undeserving and evil that he would literally run in the opposite direction and risk crossing a sea to avoid. They believed, and each of them from the greatest of them to the least of them (vs.5) put on sackcloth and fasted. Their eyes were opened to their own sin. They could see, and they mourned.  I love in vs. 9 - part of the kings proclamation - where he says, "who knows?" (hint hint at the title of this post). He wasn't sure that even after every man covering in sackcloth, fasting, and turning away from their sins that God would spare them then. He had already after all, sent Jonah to tell them that they would be overthrown. But God, gracious and mighty saw what they did. He saw their hearts. and he relented of the disaster he had said that he would do to them.

We then find Jonah angry and pouting in chapter 4. He did not want the Ninevites to be forgiven. He didn't think that they deserved it. He even says that He knew that is what would happen and that is why he tucked his tail and headed for Tarshish (vs.2).  He was so angry about this that he asked God to take his life (vs.3)! So Jonah decided he would go and sit outside of the city in order to see what happened. God then appoints a plant to come and shade Jonah- and boy, was Jonah happy. But when dawn comes the next day the plant gets eaten up by a worm (props to God - vs. 7). After sitting in the scorching heat Jonah tells God that it is better for him (Jonah) to die. And God's response? 

"Do you do well to be angry for the plant?... 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, should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which

there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their

right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"

(vs 9-11)

I see myself in this story. I think I have always looked at the Ninevites as violent and cruel, totally separate from myself. Yes, they were violent and cruel. And so am I. I may not physically be.. but this heart rages war. I am so thankful, that God in his grace has given me the eyes to see, and has spared me, just as He did the Ninevites. But not only did he just spare the Ninevites, as he tenderly parents Jonah in chapter 4, He reveals his love for them! 

I read Jonah 4 and it kind of flusters me. I can't help but to think "What the heck Jonah? How could you be so selfish?" Well, hello self! I'm pretty sure that is all I have to say. There are a number of times that I come angry and pouting to God. He tenderly (sometimes with a little harder of a pat on the behind) parents me, shows me my own heart,  and forgives. What a gracious, just, and loving God I have!

Check out my friend, Alexa's post on Jonah 3&4!

And more, from another sister at She Shares Truth.