HAVING looked at the whole chapter in an overall way, and seen God dealing with his troubled and rebellious servant, we come now to look at Jonah and God's dealings with him in more detail.

What we have here is a Christian, a child of God, a servant of God, a believer in God, a saved person, troubled in spirit and burdened, and unable to resolve his difficulty. So in the first place we can learn than even the best of God's people can be troubled and burdened, and ready to fall into despair. In verse 3 we find Jonah so oppressed in spirit that he feels life is not worth living.

I guess we have all heard of people saying that Christians should not be overcome by troubles, but rather have such faith in God that they can overcome all the problems life, and the will of God, can throw at them. In the light of this belief Christians who are troubled and depressed are looked down on as lacking in faith, and lacking in submission to God, and they are condemned. It is true that there is in Christ strength to face all difficulties that life can throw at the believer. It is true that we have a friend in Jesus who bears all our sins and griefs, but it is a fact that Christians can be overcome by their experiences, and this does not mean they are less a Christian than others who do not have such problems, or sinning or falling short in faith or courage. The fact is that Jonah was a prophet of the Lord, and we have already noted, specially in chapter 1 how much grace, faith and courage he showed in submitting to God. The fact is that Christians do have problems that overcome them, and cause them to sin, but this does not mean they are substandard Christians. God's dealings with Jonah, though working for correction of his problems, and sometimes very severe as was seen in his being swallowed by the big fish, yet were in tender love, and in this chapter very gentle though firm.

We can learn from this that Christians do fall short in their understanding, and are unable to come to terms with God's purposes for them and his kingdom on earth, and this should comfort us and instruct us, for some day we might be troubled in some way like Jonah, and we will be able to find help and instruction from Jonah's experience in the hands of God.

The next thing that we can see is that Jonah's problem was not over some danger he was in, or in some temptation that afflicted him, nor in some difficulty in ministry. Jonah's problem was with God. It was God's plan that upset Jonah. It was the fact that God sent him to preach to this Gentile city that troubled Jonah. Even further, it was not that he was sent to prophesy judgement on Nineveh that bothered Jonah. If this was all and Nineveh was destroyed by the hand of God for their sins, Jonah would have been quite happy. No! Jonah's problem was because he knew God had a purpose of compassion and love towards Nineveh, and had sent Jonah to Nineveh because he purposed to save them and heal them from their sins.

This seems so extraordinary to us. However the fact is that Christians are often puzzled and have difficulties with truth from God which is revealed in the Bible, and find themselves questioning God, and even feeling God should not be like the Scriptures reveal him to be. At one of our House Groups held in our home, one of the members was troubled over the fact that so many in the world seem to be left out of God's mercy as the Gospel was not being preached to them. It seemed unfair to her that she was blessed with the Gospel and so saved, but there were so many people in the world who have never had a chance even to hear the Gospel. It seemed unfair that they were condemned to eternal damnation. Then so many Christians have great difficulties over the doctrine of election and predestination, and feel it is a doctrine that makes God into a monster, and they reject it. Once I was told by a very mature and faithful Christian that if ever I preached on predestination he would leave the church.

There are times for all of us when God's ways present difficulties for us, and when God's dealings with ourselves cause us to question God. When this happens we find ourselves, like Jonah, finding ways to avoid the truth as it is plainly presented to us, or we criticize God in some way in our hearts if not in our actions and words. Jonah first ran away from God's will and way. When he finally obeyed God, the result gave him no joy, but because he was unhappy with the way of God, all he could do was to fall into despair.

It is not the purpose here to go into how the believer can tackle such a syndrome in their lives, but to observe God's way in dealing with this spiritual difficulty. Jonah just could not get his head around his difficulties. On the one hand he trusted God with all his heart, and sought to live for God and serve God faithfully. On the other hand in the midst of this obedience and service, his heart and mind was troubled at what he felt was going to cause so much adverse effect in his ministry, and which in his heart he felt was wrong. So on the one hand he knew the ways of God were always righteous and good, and on the other he found himself troubled by and questioning the ways of God.

If we are troubled like this, it is not a sign that we have fallen from grace, or that God is going to reject us. Jonah was still God's servant and beloved by God, even though in his mind he was challenging the wisdom of God. Nor do we see God rejecting his servant, but graciously dealing with him, even though his behaviour and thoughts must have been, to say the least, irritating and an offense to God. Even though Jonah was sinning in the way he was thinking and acting, God never forsook him, but pursued him gently and firmly, in order to bring him in to a right frame of mind. So it will be with us and every true child of God who is troubled about the ways of God and the dealings of God in their life.

Paul tells us that God has begun a good work of salvation in us, and he will continue it unto the day of Jesus Christ, that is until he has brought us into the fullness of salvation in the heavenly glory. Some of God's dealings with us we may find very trying and painful, just as Jonah did, but like in the case of Jonah before, these things are working together for our good. The promise of Jesus that he will never leave us or forsake us is everlastingly true. God and the Lord Jesus will never go back on their word, so we must never allow Satan to tempt us to think otherwise.

There is no doubt that Jonah was sinning in his trouble. We are told he was angry and greatly displeased with what God had and was doing in Nineveh. Even though, if he had been asked, he would have said that the ways of God to Nineveh were good and righteousness, yet in his mind and heart he questioned this, and hated what he saw in God's dealings with Nineveh. God's people do fall into such sin. When God's ways cut across our desires, even our good desires, we do not like it. The sinful pride in our hearts questions God and gets upset with God. The first way to overcome such sin is to note that it happens. Seeing it in Jonah should make every believer careful to avoid such behaviour in themselves.

The truth is that while we are in this earthly life, even though we have been born anew of the Spirit and raised to new life in Christ which is created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness, the fact is our flesh remains the same, and under Satanic influence, will always be waring against our soul. This is why Paul is so urgent in his exhortation to us to mortify the deeds of the body, and this includes the evil and wrong thoughts in our minds, and the wrong desires within us. To overcome we must turn our eyes on Jesus, look full into the face of his word and ways, fill our lives with his will and purpose, and then in the light of the glory of his truth, the lusts of the flesh will be put to death. We know this to be the truth and the way, so we must resist all the suggestions of the evil one, when he seeks to draw us away from spiritual activity, by presenting to us earthly things and duties which we need to do. When we put the Lord first in our lives, and spend time with him, he will show us he gives us more than enough time for the ordinary things and duties of life which we have to do.

There is another factor here which is brought before us in the action of Jonah. He was angry and displeased with God, yet he still prayed. This reveals the true spiritual life in his soul. He brought his trouble to the Lord. He was altogether honest with God. He told God his complaint.

In all our troubles we can still pray. The throne of grace is always open to us through the merits of Christ. God's ear is still open to our cry. What is so wonderfully encouraging is that Jonah brought all his trouble and rebellion against God to God and told him all about it. We should never be afraid to be open with God. After all God knows what is in our hearts even better than we do. He knows the secrets of our heart which we hardly know, or refuse to admit, so when we bring our difficulties with God to him in prayer, we will not surprise him. He knows all about us from the beginning, and the Bible makes plain that God is more pleased that we don't hide from him, and he responds to the believer who is open, and brings to God his sins, and his problems with them.

It is often the case that when we are open with God in prayer, even with our secret questions and criticisms of God, then somehow in the openness of opening up before God, we find the Spirit resolving our difficulties, and we find that what we found so difficult begins to become more reasonable.

The devil will always seek to keep us from prayer if he can. He will bring all sorts of thoughts, feelings and fears into our minds to keep us from prayer and openness before God, but we must resist this, and always open our heart to God in prayer. Coming to God in prayer is always the road to the resolving of our troubles, even though it may take some time for things to get better.