Thursday, June 09, 2016

Whenever possible it’s good to enrich your understanding of a portion of the Bible by comparing it with another portion. In thinking about the life of Jonah I was reminded of the life of the older brother of the prodigal son. You read about him in Luke chapter 15:25-32. He, like Jonah, wasn’t happy to see God bless his younger brother, someone who he thought was undeserving. Especially when his prodigal brother got privileges he had not received himself. The older brother obviously was jealous. Jealousy robs us of both enjoying what we already have as well as enjoying with others what they have. In other words, jealousy doubly robs us. While Jonah should have been rejoicing over what God had done in the city of Nineveh, he was outside the city having a pity party, depressed to the point of desiring death. How sad. The only bright note about Jonah in the whole chapter is found in verse 6 where it says he was happy about the vine God had caused to grow to help shade him from the heat. But when God caused it to wither he reverted to anger and depression. Anger is mentioned four times in this chapter. Psychologists tell us that suppressed anger often results in depression. What a sad picture of a gifted man, mightily used of God, who nevertheless was angry, frustrated and depressed because he considered his own agenda more important than God’s agenda. If you want a fulfilled life choose God’s agenda for your life’s agenda all the time.