Jonah 4:9-11, “Then God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘It is right for me to be angry, even to death! ’But the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant for which you have not laboured, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?’”
The lesson God wants to teach you through your situation is to learn to discern between right and wrong, in the light of His Word. That is why in Jonah 4, God did not rebuke Jonah and say, ‘It is wrong for you to be angry.’ Instead, He asked a question, “Is it right for you to be angry?” This was meant to lead Jonah to self-examination so he could learn a valuable lesson. This is a question you can ask yourself whatever situation you are facing: Despite my situation, irrespective of my feelings, my opinions or my personal misgivings, am I doing what is right in God’s sight or justifying a wrong response?
Jonah was questioning God’s ways – his heart was closed from learning what God was teaching. Remember, the situation God is allowing you to pass through is not necessarily designed to bring you comfort – it’s building your character. To learn a lesson, we must focus on the Teacher – this means submitting to His ways, His agenda, not ours. God is teaching, training and equipping you. But if we’re focused on our plans, we won’t learn His lessons.
God’s concern was the souls of those people – His purpose was their redemption. Many times, we miss divine lessons because we have a material mindset. If you focus on the Teacher to know what He is saying to you through that situation, He will equip you for the blessings He will release to you. Take the life lesson of Jonah, and examine your own life. Are you missing the opportunity to learn because of a wrong focus?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to embrace the lesson You are teaching me instead of complaining so that I don’t just go through my situation but grow through it. In Jesus’ name, amen.