Jonah 3:10, When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Jonah 4:1-3, But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
John 4:4, But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Work Where God Placed You
I don’t know which side of the political aisle you stand. I don’t want to know. However, my question to you is this: If God told you to join the other side and do His work inside that party’s camp, would you do it? Would you do it if you knew that God would extend compassion to that political party?
That is basically what Jonah faced and what drove Jonah to flee God and to become livid when God changed the hearts of the people of Nineveh. Jonah certainly had a tough assignment. To be told to go to an evil society. To tell them that God was going to punish them, knowing that God would change their hearts. That they would repeat and make Jonah look like a false prophet. That was Jonah’s assignment. Ouch!
Don’t look at others’ fields and say in your heart, that’s where I should be. Don’t say in your heart, “I would be better.” Don’t waste your prayers pleading with God to put you in the place you want to be, that you thought you would be. Don’t allow bitterness to displace gentleness. Don’t run from God; don’t hinder God’s work in you. God called you for a purpose. His timing and His place may not align with your agenda but our purpose in God’s kingdom is to do His will.
A People, A Place, and a Purpose
God calls every Christian, and He chose you and called you for a purpose. He has a people, a place, and a purpose for each of His children, including you, if you are His child.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10
Your life will never make sense until you receive the Father’s beloved Son, yield to the yoke that Jesus has personally crafted for you (Matthew 11:29), and entered the field which He has prepared for you. Don’t be a tone-deaf musician, an inarticulate teacher, a clumsy craftsman. Rejoice in the work that was prepared for you before you were even born.
God’s Heavenly Call
Allow the radiance of Christ Jesus (Hebrews 1:3), through the abiding Holy Spirit (John 14:17), to shine from you and upon those around you. Allow no hate, no malice, no discontent to discredit the work Christ is doing through you. If your Master has called you to weave baskets or build bridges, do it all unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23). If He has called you to go into the enemy’s camp, then go. For there is a day on God’s heavenly calendar when you will stand before Him and give an account of what you did with your life (Acts 17:31). Don’t let your answer be, “I buried it.” (Matthew 25:18) Instead, do your Master’s work so that you will hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into thy rest.” (Matthew 25:21)
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