His Great Compassion

Jonah 4

Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city? (Jonah 4:11)

GOD TOLD JONAH TO PREACH TO NINEVEH, and after a failed attempt to escape his instruction, Jonah did what he was called to do. It was a successful mission. The Assyrian city, known in Israel for its brutality, repented and put an end to its evil ways. While most people enjoy their success, Jonah seethed over it. He hadn’t wanted God to show mercy to the Assyrians, which is one of the reasons he fled in the first place. Now the city was spared from the judgment he had preached, and Jonah was angry.

After an object lesson with a vine and a worm, God made his point with the prophet. He suggested that Jonah’s compassion for a plant was greater than his compassion for people—and that as God, he had every right to show compassion for his creation. The last line of the book reflects its overarching theme: God is concerned even for those who rebel against him, and he wants his people to have the same kind of concern. He is driven by compassion and expects us to align our hearts with his.

You will likely never find yourself in the same situation as Jonah—called to go into the city of an extremely violent, hostile enemy and preach repentance—but you will certainly find yourself in the position of choosing whether to love your enemies or not. You will face every human being with the option of responding to him or her from God’s perspective or from your own. You will come face-to-face with your own biases, others’ offenses, misunderstandings, and pent-up animosities, and you will have to decide: Will you show compassion or anger, sympathy or hostility, a blessing or a curse? Jonah was filled with the sentiments of rivalry, and he resented God’s mercy on people who didn’t deserve it. But who does deserve God’s mercy? No one, including us. It flows from the compassion of God, which is meant to fill our hearts and drive us into a contentious world. Our hearts are to beat with his.

{Lord, give me your heart for people. Help me overcome my biases, to live unoffended, to seek the best of even those who hurt me. Fill me with divine compassion and send me into your world. Amen.