{"id":8636,"date":"2014-03-08T04:17:13","date_gmt":"2014-03-08T04:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/?p=8636"},"modified":"2024-11-02T06:32:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-02T06:32:47","slug":"and-justice-for-all-when-love-isnt-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/admit\/and-justice-for-all-when-love-isnt-fair","title":{"rendered":"And Justice for All… When Love Isn’t Fair"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Steven Gledhill <\/em><\/span>for FREEdom from MEdom Project<\/span><\/h5>\n

The words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.\u00a0Ecclesiastes 10:12 (HCSB)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Why is it that it tends to be so difficult to appreciate the tender compassion of our loving affectionate Father when he blesses someone who hardly deserves it? What if Hitler or Stalin or Charlie Manson, or even a Jeffrey Dahmer were to truly repent of his sin?<\/p>\n

Far fetched to imagine that a Charlie Manson would ever repent of his sin against God and man. Would never happen, right?<\/p>\n

It is said that Jeffrey Dahmer did just that; that he confessed and repented of his sin and entered into relationship with Christ in prison while on death row before beaten to death with a barbell while cleaning a bathroom. He killed, dismembered and cannibalized people\u2026 including children. According to Curt Booth, Dahmer’s conversion was genuine. Any chance you can stomach seeing and hearing this homicidal maniac’s testimony? Get ready… it’s coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Jeffrey was ready,\u201d Booth said. \u201cToday, all the angels in heaven are rejoicing because Jeffrey has come home.\u201d Booth said he had no doubt about the sincerity of Dahmer\u2019s conversion. \u201cOn the great resurrection day, I\u2019m expecting to see him right along there with Abraham, David, Isaac, James, John and all the saints that have lived right up to the modern day,\u201d Booth said.<\/p>\n

Curt Booth usually ministered to inmates at prisons closer to home. But in April 1994, he caught a glimpse of Dahmer on television. Dahmer mentioned that he wished he could \u201cfind a little peace,\u201d Booth said. The Oklahoma church member sensed what he considered the hurt in Dahmer\u2019s voice and eyes. Booth thought: \u201cI know somebody who can give you that peace. His name is Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Booth sent Dahmer a Bible correspondence course teaching the steps to salvation. Dahmer mailed the answers back and thanked Booth for the course. \u201cBut I still have one problem,\u201d Dahmer wrote. \u201cThis prison does not have a baptismal tank and Mr. Burkum the prison chaplain is not sure if he can find someone to bring a tank in and baptize me. I\u2019ve taken all the other steps.\u201d Booth contacted Roy Ratcliff, minister of the Madison Church of Christ in Wisconsin. Ratcliff set up weekly Bible lessons with Dahmer and baptized him on May 10, 1994.<\/p>\n

Source: The Christian Chronicle<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

Do you believe it? Is Jeffrey Dahmer worthy of the Father’s mercy? If you see him in heaven will you be able to live with that? Forever?<\/p>\n

It’s Not Fair!<\/span><\/h2>\n

Is anyone beyond the compassionate mercy of our Lord Jesus who as God was sent by His gracious Father God to redeem anyone who repents, as unjust as it might seem? Heaven will consist of murderers, child molesters, wife-beaters, bullies, rapists, thieves, kleptomaniacs, pyromaniacs, and nymphomaniacs. There are repentant horrific, disgusting villainous sinners that make up a significant population of heavenly citizens. \"\"<\/a>Good people like you might be there. But there will also be really really bad people: Paul the Apostle (henchman, murderer), King David (murderer, adulterer, possibly a rapist and child molester*), Zacchaeus (mobster-like tax collecting thug), and\u2026 whoa\u2026 what if Judas is there? Is it even possible that the one who gave in to the devil and betrayed Jesus the Messiah could have repented prior to or while hanging himself?<\/p>\n

Take a look at the deeds of King David; deeds one might say in hindsight were evil. People don’t want to hear how grace was essential to the salvation of the man after God’s own heart, David. He conspired to have his friend murdered so he could have his wife, yet there’s a problem suggesting he molested children? Just because it was legal that he could have sex with girls that may have been as young as 13 years old, slave girls of his wives promoted to concubine when the king decided he wanted them, it never<\/strong> was acceptable in the eyes of David’s Savior. It isn’t as much of a stretch to think of David as a molester of young girls as you might think. Even though it may have been consider “acceptable” doesn’t make it any less wrong and reprehensible. David’s repentance and God’s mercy extended to David was not on the surface fair to those girls and their parents, was it?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>How is it fair that you or I can deny ourselves pleasure in the world to follow Christ for decades of our lives and the one who lived a hedonistic lifestyle can repent sincerely on his or her death bed at the last hour and be saved from the eternal consequence of sin? It happens every day somewhere in the world. There was the thief that was crucified next to Jesus who confessed he was a sinner (not only to Jesus but to another human being when he declared, \u201cWe deserve to die for our crimes.\u201d). Here\u2019s the thing: It\u2019s not my call and it\u2019s not yours. Thank God it\u2019s His call.<\/p>\n

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.<\/span> 1 John 1:9 (NIV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What a powerful promise from the Word of God. It’s as though God is suggesting that so long as He sent His Son to pay so great a debt, having been crucified as the sacrifice for sin \u2013 your sin and mine \u2013 that He must forgive us or the sacrifice is for nothing. In the eyes of God, it would not be just or fair if He didn’t forgive us when we confess sin. I have made colossal mistakes, and yet if I am repentant, it’s as though God fails Himself unless He forgives me. The truth here is that not only is this true going forward, it is true going back; all the way back to Adam.<\/p>\n

Let me pose to you this question: What would you say that the prophet Jonah and the brother of the prodigal son have in common concerning this subject? Not sure? What if I threw in names like Esau or Cane? Let me suggest that each of these men and so many more in the Bible felt they were entitled to a little justice around here.<\/p>\n

Jonah<\/span><\/h3>\n

Let us we begin with Jonah\u2019s issue. Jonah refused to go to the hedonistic city of Nineveh, got thrown overboard and swallowed up and then spit up by a large fish, and then:<\/p>\n

3 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: 2 <\/sup>\u201cGet up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

3 <\/sup>This time Jonah obeyed the Lord\u2019s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 <\/sup>On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: \u201cForty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!\u201d 5 <\/sup>The people of Nineveh believed God\u2019s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.<\/span><\/p>\n

6 <\/sup>When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 7 <\/sup>Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 <\/sup>People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. 9 <\/sup>Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

10 <\/sup>When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened. Jonah, chapter 3 (NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

4 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 <\/sup>So he complained to the Lord about it: \u201cDidn\u2019t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 <\/sup>Just kill me now, Lord! I\u2019d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

4 <\/sup>The Lord replied, \u201cIs it right for you to be angry about this?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

5 <\/sup>Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 <\/sup>And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah\u2019s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.<\/span><\/p>\n

7 <\/sup>But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. 8 <\/sup>And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. \u201cDeath is certainly better than living like this!\u201d he exclaimed.<\/span><\/p>\n

9 <\/sup>Then God said to Jonah, \u201cIs it right for you to be angry because the plant died?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Jonah retorted, \u201ceven angry enough to die!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

10 <\/sup>Then the Lord said, \u201cYou feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. 11 <\/sup>But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn\u2019t I feel sorry for such a great city?\u201d<\/span> Jonah, chapter 4 (NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jonah became extremely angry over what he perceived to be injustice. And when you think about it, none of the ordeal between God and the city of Nineveh had anything to do with Jonah. Why did Jonah care whether God destroyed this city or not? Because it wasn\u2019t right, that\u2019s why. These were wicked people and at that time the city was the capital of the Assyrian empire, a people despised by a Jewish man. What God wanted for the people of Nineveh, Jonah did not like at all. Jonah goes there after much anguish and distress to inform the people to repent or be destroyed. So they repent, change their behavior, and God is satisfied. On the other hand, Jonah is livid. He is \u201ceven angry enough to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone\u2019s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay,” says the Lord.<\/span> Romans 12:16-19 (HCSB)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s ironic to me that God used a whale to get Jonah into Nineveh and a worm to get him out. The city repented of its wicked behavior and Jonah was free to go. But he felt that the people were so bad that God would be unwilling to accept their repentance and would destroy them. Jonah went up the hill to get a front row seat to witness the carnage and destruction. I suppose Jonah would find some sense of gratification watching those people suffer. Instead, God expressed to His people in Nineveh compassion and sent Jesus to pay whatever debt the repentant people of Nineveh owed God for the evil they had perpetrated against Him along their way. To Jonah that hardly seemed fair. It wasn\u2019t right! Rather than appreciate the gracious heart of God that extended mercy to those He loves, Jonah apparently resented God for letting them get away with murder. Again, how is that right?<\/p>\n

Cain and Abel<\/span><\/h3>\n

I suppose it could be said that the most famous rival brothers were Cain and Abel since God chose to bless Abel when Cain felt entitled to the blessing. Other famous rival brothers might be Jacob and Esau since Jacob manipulated Esau out of his brother Esau’s birthright. I chose to focus on the brother of the prodigal son. Below is the story from Luke chapter 15.<\/p>\n

11 <\/sup>To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: \u201cA man had two sons. 12 <\/sup>The younger son told his father, \u2018I want my share of your estate now before you die.\u2019 So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.<\/span><\/p>\n

13 <\/sup>\u201cA few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 <\/sup>About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 <\/sup>He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 <\/sup>The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

17 <\/sup>\u201cWhen he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, \u2018At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 <\/sup>I will go home to my father and say, \u201cFather, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 <\/sup>and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take \"\"<\/a>me on as a hired servant.\u201d\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

20 <\/sup>\u201cSo he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 <\/sup>His son said to him, \u2018Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

22 <\/sup>\u201cBut his father said to the servants, \u2018Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 <\/sup>And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 <\/sup>for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.\u2019 So the party began.<\/span><\/p>\n

25 <\/sup>\u201cMeanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 <\/sup>and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 <\/sup>\u2018Your brother is back,\u2019 he was told, \u2018and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

28 <\/sup>\u201cThe older brother was angry and wouldn\u2019t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 <\/sup>but he replied, \u2018All these years I\u2019ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 <\/sup>Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

31 <\/sup>\u201cHis father said to him, \u2018Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 <\/sup>We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!\u2019\u201d<\/span> Luke 15:11-31 (NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While we know this story to be one of compassionate mercy and affectionate love between a father and his son, this is as well an incredibly sad story of jealousy, resentment, and entitlement because of a grudge held by at least one brother against the other. It is a story of reconciliation, redemption, and restoration, while at the same time a story of bitter separation of what might have been considered irreconcilable differences.<\/p>\n

The brother of the prodigal son may have hated his brother\u2019s tendencies toward disobedient, disrespectful recklessness, and perhaps was happy to see his brother leave the household, that is until he realized that his brother left with a boat load of resources from daddy\u2019s estate. \u201cWhat? Dad, you did what? You allowed him to leave with half of your estate? How is that possible? Why would you do that? He\u2019s messed up. We both know what he is going to do with it!\u201d<\/p>\n

And then predictably the young man went out and did just as his brother knew he would. So why did the father of these two brothers bless the one with half of his estate, resources that the more reckless of the two brothers would go on to waste completely on his addictive behavior? I don\u2019t know. What I do know is that there are an awful lot of people living in the world today that seem to have prospered and have been blessed and gone on to recklessly waste so much of the goodness earned and\/or bestowed on them. It can be especially unnerving when someone who has inherited a fortune ends up buying into the lie of lust and greed and addiction and loses it all in their addiction leading to their inevitable destruction.<\/p>\n

In the case of the prodigal son story that Jesus told, having realized he lost everything it behooved the young man to think seriously about returning to where his bread was buttered. The man was famished and literally starving to death. He struggles toward home and when his father looks out he sees him and summons his servants to run out with him to meet his son and help him home. He clothes his son and restores him back into full inheritance. And then, thrilled that his lost son is found, throws the party of the century for him.<\/p>\n

One problem: not everyone is thrilled that the prodigal son has returned home. You read from the story in Luke 15 that his brother was furious. He is laboring in the fields and while he is walking back to the house he hears the revelry of this spontaneous party. He asked one of the servants inquisitively, \u201cSounds like fun in there; what\u2019s going on?\u201d The servant tells him that his brother is back home and it\u2019s a celebration. The servant says, \u201cYour brother doesn’t look good but it sure is amazing that he has come home. I\u2019ll see you inside.\u201d The jealous brother replies, \u201cNo, go on ahead. I\u2019m going to try and take care of a few more things. Maybe I\u2019ll be in later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad came outside, perplexed that this son isn\u2019t compelled to welcome back his brother, and he asks him about it. Well, you read about his objections. \u201cYou gave him everything he didn\u2019t deserve in the first place and my brother blew through all of it like candy. Whatever he was suffering was his own doing and undoing. Then he comes home and you celebrate his failures? I\u2019ve been with you the whole time! I have served you in the family business faithfully. I have loved you father without reservation. You never threw a party for me. I don\u2019t get it.\u201d Then dad responds, \u201cI love you son. I have always loved you.\u201d Looking out over the vast property, he continues, saying, \u201cAnd everything I have you have. It\u2019s all yours. You\u2019re right about one thing. You don\u2019t get it. Your brother was lost to us \u2013 to me \u2013 and now he is found. Your brother who I also love deeply was dead and now he is alive!\u201d<\/p>\n

Why couldn\u2019t the brother of the prodigal son rejoice with his father and family? Was it jealousy? Perhaps it was; or least it was a piece in the bigger picture. There was definitely a problem of entitlement. With everything the brother of the prodigal son possessed, what was missing? Was it that a party hadn\u2019t been thrown for him? What was it?<\/p>\n

Are you ready for it? I believe what was missing for the brother was love. Love? Why love? It\u2019s obvious that the father loved both sons the same. It\u2019s obvious that the father was generous to both sons. It is obvious to you and me, but it was not obvious to the brother. The brother should have been celebrating that he has the most awesome father on the planet; that no matter how bad it gets; no matter how bad I get; if I return home seeking mercy \u2013 even if it\u2019s in the form of a hearty meal \u2013 my father is compassionate and gracious and forgiving and generous with his love, and all expressions of his love, without measure.<\/p>\n

When Love Isn\u2019t Fair<\/span><\/h2>\n

The problem with love in relationships is that I tend to measure love according to my expectations. My expectations and motivations are selfish and corrupt. So then my interpretation of love is motivated by entitlement, which clouds my expectations. How I perceive my own expressions of love offered by me to you, if I am honest, is motivated by how it makes me feel offering them. The closest thing to the exception to that reality is authentic love toward children—in particular my children—when love is often expressed through sacrifice, which typically is not reciprocated, at least not to the measure of the sacrifice by which it was offered. Love is not fair.<\/p>\n

Here lies the reality once we get right down to it: I love me and I love you for what you do for me. We love from a sense of entitlement of reciprocation and gratification. Love is naturally corrupted by selfishness. So we need the love of God coursing through our being in order to really love someone. Then we can be genuinely compassionate. Then our extension of mercy and grace to another is authentic. Then love is sincere.<\/p>\n

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don\u2019t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don\u2019t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can\u2019t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don\u2019t have what you want because you don\u2019t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don\u2019t get it because your motives are all wrong\u2014you want only what will give you pleasure.<\/span> James 4:1-3 (NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

James wrote this passage to his Christian brothers and sisters who were altogether motivated by selfish entitlement and had forgotten what it is to love each other. John wrote that perfect love expels all fear and reservation (1 John 4:18). Paul wrote that of peace, hope, and love, that love is most cherished and treasured. He writes that unadulterated love is good, and kind, and patient\u2026 and most of all compassionate and merciful, keeping no record of wrong doing. He is saying that real love is gracious, and if it\u2019s genuinely gracious, love does not fail (1 Corinthians 13).<\/p>\n

You adulterers! Don\u2019t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, \u201cGod opposes the proud but favors the humble.\u201d So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.<\/span> James 4:4-8 (NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

James is saying that in our divided loyalty between serving the will of God and serving my own will that I commit adultery against God\u2019s plan for love in the world and His plan for love in the hearts of His children. The brother of the prodigal son could not love his brother because of his love for himself and the resentment burning in his heart against his brother. In that sense he became unfaithful to his father. He so much as accused his father of not loving him. To say that you do not love me enough<\/em> is to say that you don\u2019t love me.<\/p>\n

Love is a qualified property of relationship and not quantified, when you really think about it. It sure is a good thing that God is all about grace because when I sin, I am not reciprocating the love that Jesus expressed through His sacrifice that paid the debt created by my sin; sin motivated by entitlement; lived out in selfishness. The love of God is not fair. However, God in His Word has declared that it is. God\u2019s love for you and for me is not fair\u2026 to Him. Yet to Him it is absolutely fair and just.<\/p>\n

So what was the root problem of the brother of the prodigal son? What was the underlying problem that Jonah found so contentious when it came to the restoration of the Ninevite people?<\/p>\n

The Contaminant<\/span><\/h2>\n

As it is stated throughout FREEdom from MEdom Project, the root problem is a core belief of entitlement. It is one thing to acknowledge what I want and what I need but where it gets dicey is in the declaration of what I feel<\/em> I deserve. The brother of the prodigal son felt he deserved equality in the moment. He deserved a party, at a minimum. He felt his<\/em> brother, the prodigal one, deserved nothing for having betrayed the goodness and generosity of his father. So, that being the issue at the heart of it, it appears that the brother of the prodigal son hadn\u2019t really considered the love that his father had for both of his sons. \u201cI deserve your love and my brother does not.\u201d Did the jealous son\/brother have authentic love for his father, or was the true love really for himself and that his father was to gratify the love the jealous son had for himself.<\/p>\n

Is desire an intellectual thing or is it emotional? You might say that it is both. But the sense of entitlement \u2013 what I believe I deserve \u2013 is very much predicated on emotion. It is a feeling that drives desire, lust, greed, envy, and jealousy. Entitlement is at the center of selfish pride and ambition.<\/p>\n

Entitlement is also what leads to spiritual divide between the human spirit and the Spirit of God. What is the human spirit? It\u2019s not easy to describe. While not many would not dismiss that human beings are spiritual beings, defining spirituality from a humanistic ideology is difficult. That which is obviously good and right, and that which is obviously bad, perhaps evil, and wrong is palpable. What might be considered forces of morality and good and forces of immorality and evil can be examined in what might be considered spiritual context. The difficulty comes when that which was created to be good is corrupted by this matter of entitlement. You might say that selfish entitlement is the contaminant that turns what is good, even fulfilling, into something that is never really content or satisfied; when enough is never enough with a hunger and thirst for something more or something else.<\/p>\n

For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.<\/span> James 3:16 (NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Entitlement is also at the center of the need to feel better than I do to one extent or another. Entitlement is at the center of my selfish thinking and behavior. Entitlement in the flesh is corrupt and the primary motivator for sin. And once I have sinned I am enslaved by it and addicted to it.<\/p>\n

Jesus replied, \u201cI tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.\u201d<\/span> John 8:34 (NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, it becomes clearer why Jonah had the issues concerning the people of Nineveh. He prophecies to them their doom because of their wickedness, and then, they repent, mourning and fasting, calling desperately on God, and then change their behavior. Why would Jonah feel such rage and resentment (so angry he could die) that God spared the city? Why would Jonah, a man of God, have such ill will that he would just as soon see them all, including women and children, destroyed? What was at stake for Jonah? Why did he care so much that God take them out? Did Jonah\u2019s sense of entitlement and addiction to having his own personal interests satisfied, dig so deep inside of him that he would sit on a hillside to personally witness their death and destruction? What did Jonah feel he<\/em> deserved? Was it his credibility as a prophet, as though he might be deemed less than viable if his prediction did not materialize? After all, he did spend three days making sure everyone in this large city was scared to death of God\u2019s wrath, which they were. Why would Jonah, in his mind, offer these people up to die? To have his ego stroked? What is going on?<\/p>\n

Jonah was consumed by his anger. His rage took over and controlled him. You might say that Jonah\u2019s unrighteousness motivated him to think evil, wicked thoughts. If Jonah was a city, God may have delivered a prophet to threaten Jonah with destruction. As much as Jonah found the city of Nineveh reprehensible, he was no better than they were.<\/p>\n

Was it so necessary that Jonah be proved right? Was it all about being right? Is that possible?<\/p>\n