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by GLENN PEASE
03/13/18
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Based on Jonah 4:1-4

     A man said to his friend, "My wife gets another hat every time she is down in the dumps." His friend replied, "I wondered where she was getting them." Down in the dumps is a less sophisticated way of referring to depression and despondency. Down in the mouth is the more common terminology used about Jonah, but this is a reference to his experience in the great fish, and applies only to his body, since in spirit Jonah was not then depressed, but rejoicing that God had spared him, but now we find him not down in the mouth physically, but down in the dumps mentally and spiritually.

     Jonah had just started to build up a good image of himself, and restore his reputation. We had almost forgotten about his foolishness at the beginning of the book, but now he has a relapse, and again becomes almost obnoxious. Some feel that Jonah was actually a neurotic of the manic-depressive type. He was alternating between gaiety and despondency. In a very short time he could go from being abnormally displeased to being abnormally pleased. We see this by comparing verse 1 and verse 6.

     It is not unusual for believers to suffer from despondency. Moses and Elijah, like Jonah, had the sense of depression so bad they, like him, prayed for death. A good many men of God down through history have been victims of depression. Charles Haddon Spurgeon had to fight it, and so did Alexander Macclaren. These were two of the greatest preachers in history, and their sermons are in print by the millions, but they had terrible bouts with depression. The fact of believers being depressed is not unusual, but in Jonah's case the causes of that depression are unusual, and reveal the perilous power that prejudice can have on a believer. We want to examine the reasons and the results of Jonah's despondency.

I. THE REASONS FOR HIS DESPONDENCY.

      The first reason is narrowness of mind. At the printing company where I worked for 4 years when I was a student, my boss was a paper cutter who trimmed paper to the right printing size. Sometimes he trimmed tablets that were already glued and ready to ship out. When he did, he usually saved a stack of the trimmings. They were about a quarter of an inch wide. He would set them on his desk where they were observed. People could see they were obviously worthless, and so it stimulated almost everyone to ask why he was saving them. This was just what he was waiting for, and he would reply, "Those are scratch pads for narrow minded Christians." It became a standing joke, and those of us from Bethel got a kick out of it ourselves.

     The reputation of narrowness which we had as Christians because we did not live and talk as the others, and because we did not join them at the bar and their wild parties was one for which we were proud. In spite of the joke we were respected, and I even had the opportunity to lead one young man to Christ right in the plant, and I had abundant opportunities to witness. This was true of the other Bethel students as well, and it was a thrill to have the reputation of being narrow, for it meant we had some convictions about God and Christ, and people knew that if they needed help they could count on us.

     I say all this so that it is clear that I do not knock narrowness. I feel it is a necessity to effective witnessing, but there is a narrowness that is destructive and hinders one's witness. This is the kind of narrowness we see in Jonah at this point. Jonah did not want God to be merciful to all men. He wanted God to be exclusive in His blessings. He wanted God to be a tribal deity of Israel, and not a universal God. Jonah's narrowness was not the narrowness of truth, which by its nature must exclude error, but his was the narrowness of selfish nationalism and patriotism. Both of these are virtues when they are subordinate to the will of God. But when they are first in our system of values we become idolaters. Jonah was more concerned about his nation than he was about God's mercy toward the enemies of his nation.

     In verse 2 he says, "I told you Lord. I knew this would happen. That is why I did not want to go in the first place." Jonah knew that God was merciful, and that he would repent if Nineveh did, and he could not tolerate the thought. Jonah is the type of person who wants God to conform to their narrow and selfish ideals. The offense of the cross
arises from the same type of narrowness. Neither the Jewish leaders nor the Greeks wanted a plan of salvation that included the publicans and sinners. This was a stumbling block and foolishness. A God worthy of their ideals must save only their kind of people. Since God would not conform to their narrow theology, they excluded Him, and rejected His plan. When men become so narrow they walk in darkness.

     It is difficult but essential that we have the attitude of the minister that voted on a controversial issue and said, "I was against it personally, but I believed God was for it, and so I went along." It takes an exceedingly honest man to recognize that his likes and dislikes are not synonymous with God's. Jonah knew that God's ways were not his ways, but he did not like it one bit, and this narrowness of mind led to the second thing we will look at.

     The second reason for his despondency was his hardness of heart. He had the audacity to go to God in prayer to complain against His mercy. As the popular saying goes, with friends like this, who needs enemies? God's mercy to Nineveh is not as amazing as is His patience in putting up with Jonah. He had to battle with him all the way. Never was such success accomplished by such an unworthy instrument. I have heard of preachers having blue Mondays because they feel like they have failed, but who ever heard of depression over success? He was planning on a fruitless sermon. He was expecting a total flop. But his planned failure failed, and instead the people responded, and it was a success.

     This is conclusive proof that the Word of God can be effective in spite of the instrument communicating it. I do not doubt that if the Gospel was rightly presented by an atheist it could lead to people responding in faith and being saved. The message can succeed even if the messenger fails, as was the case with Jonah. His hardness of heart is without excuse. He was not so much interested in the destruction of sin as he was in the destruction of an enemy. God's concern is just the opposite; to eliminate the enemy through repentance and forgiveness.

     The danger of this narrowness of mind and hardness of heart is ever present. The early church struggled with it. There were many who did not like the idea of Gentiles coming into the church. They felt that the Jews were the only people in God's plan in spite of all that the Old Testament said to the contrary. It took the authority of men like Paul and Barnabas to broaden the vision of the church. The struggle goes on yet today, and many Christians do not like the idea of God loving all races equally. They want others to be second class citizens of the kingdom at best. Jonah's experience was abnormal, but to some degree it is still an experience that many believers have. They have a narrow perspective on who is included in the family of God, and they have no joy in the wideness of God's mercy. Now let's look at-

II. THE RESULT OF HIS DESPONDENCY.

     First we see the loss of hope. When your false gods are destroyed by God Himself, your whole system of values collapses. Hope is gone if you cannot submit to God and accept His values. Jonah is so shattered that he does not care to live. He does not fear to be angry at God because he wants to die anyway. Here is a child of God so angry with his Father. We see that even a perfect father has no guarantee that there will be no friction in the family, for the children do not share that perfection. God does not compel His children to love what He loves, so if they do not choose to do so, there is trouble.

     The anger of Jonah is not wrong just because it is anger, for there is a place for legitimate anger in a child of God. For example, we ought to be angry with one so narrow as Jonah, but when the cause for our anger is God's ways, then we are on dangerous ground. It is not wrong in itself to pray for death either. Paul had a desire to depart and be with the Lord. Many believers have suffered with a broken body and have longed for release. They have finished life's labor, and would count it all joy to leave this vale of tears for the eternal joys of heaven. But Jonah had none of these circumstances. His work was not done. He was not suffering, except from his own selfish ego, and so his despondency only added to his sin.

     The second loss was the loss of dignity. Jonah was a peeved and pouting prophet. Many commentators feel that Jonah felt depressed and hopeless because his reputation was now shattered. The word would spread that what he predicted did not come to pass, and so his authority would be lost. He would not want to go back to Israel since they would consider him a traitor for helping their enemies to escape destruction. Jonah did have some good reasons for his discouragement, and they would not be easily overcome. Our criticism of Jonah can be tempered by the realization that in the same circumstances many servants of God would react the same way, especially if they were victims of a narrow theology from the start.

     Deep personal piety does not necessarily eliminate prejudice. A child of God can resist the truth of God, and persist in an ungodly narrowness even to the point of being willing to give up life rather than give up their prejudice. Knowing this ought to make us cautious in our judgment of many Christians. Every commentator expresses shock and disgust with the attitude of Jonah, but none can sign him to hell. To do so would be to step into Jonah's own shoes, and begin to demand God's conformity to your system of values. If God can patiently endure, and seek to teach such a servant as Jonah, we must almost also be patient with those Christians who are victims of one prejudice or another. Rebuke is always in order, but rejection is a step to be left in the hands of God. This is important to keep in mind when you confront a believer who is a bigot.

     We need to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves, how would we react if God started a revival with a group that we feel is not biblical? Would we resent it and feel like dying, or could we rejoice that souls were being won, even though God is not using us to do it? It is easy to say that we would be delighted, but I suspect that our prejudice could lead us to feel something like Jonah, and we could resent God's grace and mercy being shown to those we do not like. Are we narrow in mind and hardened in heart? Do we rejoice in the marvelous mercy of God that not only forgives sinners of all races, but who also does not forsake saints who are narrow minded, and because of their own sin are down in the dumps?

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