When he decided to run from God's call, he was not simply running from a nice idea God had for him. He was trying to escape from doing the most important assignment in the history of mankind! He was trying to stand in the way of God's dream being fulfilled!
The Lord had even told him what to preach. He was supposed to tell them to repent or, basically, God would blow them off the face of the earth - Sodom and Gomorrah, Part Two. He did not even have to think of his own sermon!
God always has His way of getting His job done. We know that Jonah finally showed up in Nineveh after enduring the storm and hanging out in the belly of the fish for three days. The Bible says that he preached to the people in Ninevah, and everyone repented (Jonah 3:3-5). They all fasted and put on sackcloth and ashes. It says that even the animals fasted! Wow, that is serious!
Jonah was mad. He wanted to be remembered as the prophet who preached to a city that didn't repent...resulting in the whole city being blown up. He cared more about how he looked in front of the people than he cared about the people themselves. After God had forgiven them, Jonah went outside the city onto a hill to look down on the people and complain.
There he was, out in the hot desert-like sun, just as mad as he could be. God decided to have some mercy on him. He grew up a plant while Jonah was sleeping so he could have some shade. Jonah woke up the next morning still angry, and he complained all day. God said, "Forget this," and the next day when Jonah woke up the plant was dead. Now Jonah was really mad!
God asked him in Jonah 4:9, "...Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" "I do," Jonah said. "I am angry enough to die." Jonah was so wrapped up in his plant, and whether he had shade, that he never caught God's heart for the people. He cared more about his own comfort than he did about the people.
God was trying to get Jonah to care about His dream, and all he cared about was himself. It is as if God was saying, "Jonah, can't you see? I have been trying to get you to care about all these people in Nineveh. Even after preaching to them you still missed the whole point! Shouldn't I care about them, Jonah? Of course, I should and so should YOU!"
Getting Our Eyes Off Ourselves
It is time for us to start caring about God's dream for the world and not just about our own lives!
Too many Christians are still like Jonah. We care more about our DVDs and our video games than about reaching others. We care more about whether God has answered our prayer for a new car than if He answered our prayer for reaching a country.
We get mad when we do not have the answer and get what we want right away. "But, God, I prayed for that thing! Why isn't it here yet?" are the words God hears repeatedly. We are more concerned with whether we are comfortable than we are with God's passion to reach those who have never heard His gospel.
God wants us to care about what He cares about more than our own comfort. So what if we give up eating at McDonald's for a month while we go to the mission field! (Besides, most countries have McDonald's anyway.) So maybe you have to sleep on a harder bed for a month or two. Is it worth it to reach people with the Gospel? Of course, it is!
God is looking for people who will make His dream their utmost priority! People who will do everything it takes to make it happen. They are consumed with a passion to do everything they can to make His dream a reality while they are on this earth! Will you dare to live God's dream?
His dream is the only one that matters. Nothing else is even a close second. The only thing that matters is accomplishing all that God wants.
Excerpt permission granted by Teen Mania Ministries