Jonah 4:4 Then said the LORD, Do you well to be angry? I. THE REASON OF JONAH'S PETULANCE. Why was Jonah angry? The highest and noblest success of preaching is in its constructive and saving effects, not in its destructive results. But Jonah thought otherwise. To him destruction meant success, but salvation he thought failure. II. THE RESORT. Whither did he flee in his petulant fit? "Unto the Lord." Can a man in a passion pray? Jonah's prayer was a perverted privilege. He made it the medium of access to God for self-vindication and Divine vituperation. This is the first attempt at excusing himself for going to Tarshish. The greatness of God's mercy was his present grievance. Jonah's prayer closed with — III. A REQUEST. It was as unreasonable as it was unjustifiable. Self-will prompted it, and peevishness uttered it. "My reputation as a truth-speaking prophet will be slain, therefore I prefer being slain myself." What cowards disappointed expectations make us. IV. PETULANCE DIVINELY QUESTIONED. The question has a sting which enters deeply into Jonah's soul. Physicians probe wounds before they heal them. Temper is the shadow of the tempter. V. PETULANCE IN RETIREMENT. Temper generally seeks solitude when its tide is ebbing. Sulks like to mope by themselves in seclusion. VI. PETULANCE SUBJECTING JONAH TO INCONVENIENCES. Petulance is the parent of manifold discomforts — physical, mental, social, moral, ecclesiastical. It is the multiplier of life's sorrows, the inventor of ghostly troubles, the despotic subjector to manifold inconveniences. VII. PETULANCE UNDER DIVINE SYMBOLIC CORRECTION. The gourd is to be the means of physical amelioration, and then the medium of symbolic spiritual correction. Jonah learned this lesson. If the perishing of a mere gourd was a source of great grief to him, how infinitely more painful to God would be the destruction of multitudes of intelligent beings. (J. O. Keen, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? |
    |