There are those that say perception is everything; nothing can be measured unless it is compared to something else. There is, maybe, some truth to this statement, though there has to come a point when absolute truth must be allowed to rule, or, in the case of Jonah, absolute mercy. Speaking of rules... around my house, as a kid, there was a lot of do this and don’t to that. As children, the world revolves around what you are and are not allowed to do, and, to an extent, what you can get away with when nobody is looking!
I’ll ease your minds, in case you were wondering, I did get my fair share of spankings, and I’d wager that there wasn’t a single one that I got that wasn’t hard-earned. And yet, there were several instanc-es when the judicial and penal systems (Mom and Dad) failed to carry out justice, instances when they’d let things slide. But those aren’t the cases that we typically remember when they happen to us.
My little sister, being five years younger than me, was pretty good at gaming the system. She knew that the first one to scream or the first to tell mom wasn’t usually the one that got in trouble. She also knew, as most daughters do, how to give big puppy-dogeyes to our dad. Being a father now myself, I understand the temptation to give in to the sweet little face of a daughter, though at the time, it hard-ly seemed fair. As years pass and the number of children adds up, it becomes harder and harder for parents to keep up, and so they tend to let out a little more slack in the reigns. I understand this now also. But you can bet that as an older brother, I kept track of everything she did!
If you jumped ahead of us and went on to read the fourth chapter of Jonah, you’d see that he could easily be characterized as a pretty pouty child. When he finally heeded the word of God, he went into Nineveh and took three days to walk through the city, proclaiming that in forty days, they’d be doomed to destruction. He offered them no plan of salvation, no quarter, no hope of any kind, only his simple message of annihilation. And yet, despite his efforts, the people of Nineveh repented of their sins and cried out to God for mercy. When the news reached Jonah, he had already picked out for himself a sweet little spot to sit and watch the city burn. He became enraged at the injustice per-petrated by God. How could He have mercy on these wicked sinners?!
Jonah had forgotten that he was not so different from the Ninevites. When he had heard the call of God, he turned tail and ran. It had taken the foreshadowing of doom to bring Jonah back into the light just the same as the Ninevites. You and I are lucky to serve an unjust and unfair God. We bow at the feet of a savior that is willing to look past our shortcomings and failures, and who is willing to use us in whatever state we are found.