SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/21/2025 9:15 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “A Flawed Anticipation”
Bible Reading and Meditation Reference: Jonah 4:5
Message of the verse: “Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of the city. And there he made a booth for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.”
Jonah 4:4 gives a clue as to why Jonah went out from the city, which says “4 The LORD said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?" Jonah was clearly unhappy with the Lord’s response, and having completed his preaching assignment, and then Jonah departed and in something like a sour sulk sat east of the city. While east identified Jonah’s physical location, it also signaled his judgmental disposition toward the Ninevites, evoking other passages where the east is associated with divine judgment as seen in the following verses: (cf. Gen. 3:24; 13:11; Isa. 9:11-12; 46:11; Ezek. 43:2; and cf. Gen. 16:12; 25:18). Now rather than rejoicing in God’s saving power and purpose, Jonah insisted on waiting for divine wrath to fall on Nineveh in keeping with the warning that he gave in Jonah 3:4. Now he positioned himself where he could see the city, hoping God would still unleash His just judgment on the population. That Jonah sat demonstrated his resolve to watch until Nineveh was destroyed. We see here that Jonah was waiting for God to act in judgment on the city of Nineveh which we are told has 120,000 people living in it, but what he missed is that God did bring judgment on the city, and what I am saying is that in the future when the Lord Jesus Christ would die on the cross in order to pay for the sins of the world, that those sins committed by the Ninevites would be paid for then, and so would Jonah’s.
John MacArthur writes “Intent on seeing his enemies suffer and determined to wait until God struck them, the bitter prophet mad a booth for himself and sat under it in the shade. This was a temporary structure typically made from twigs or tree branches to provide some shelter from the natural elements, such as the heat of the sun (cf. Gen. 33:17; Job 27:18; Isa. 1:8; 4:6; Amos 9:11). Motivated by hatred and hostility, Jonah labored to set up a shelter for himself so that he could have a front-row seat to enjoy Nineveh’s demise. That he built a booth further revealed his hypocrisy and hardness of heart. The prophet was familiar with such a shelter from the Feast of Booths (Lev. 23:40-44), which was a festival celebrating God’s grace toward Israel. During this feast, the Israelites constructed booths and showed hospitality to foreign sojourners (Deu. 16:14). The celebration commemorated God’s gracious and faithful sustaining of His people when the Israelites were sojourners in a land not their own (Lev. 23:43). For Jonah, a booth that should have symbolized compassion, thanksgiving, and hospitality instead represented hatred, bitterness, and hostility. The booth assembled by the prophet truly was for himself, serving the prophets’ selfish antagonism toward souls on the brink of divine judgment.”
Now it was after completing his makeshift shelter that Jonah sat under it in the shade. Though the sun beat down with it heat, the booth provided at least a little shade for the prophet in order to wait in anticipation of Nineveh’s destruction. While God had extended grace to the city as can be seen in Jonah 3:10, Jonah persisted in protesting the Lord’s mercy, hoping calamity would yet befall the Ninevites, but he will see that this would not happen.
MacArthur then concludes “The prophet intended to stay until the end of the forty-day period, so he could see what would happen in the city. With a wicked hope that Nineveh’s repentance was not genuine, or that God would heed the prophet’s protest and reject the people’s repentance, Jonah positioned himself to watch Nineveh’s downfall. To accentuate the prophet’s eagerness for the city’s demise, the text repeats the word city three times in this verse. The prophet went out from the city, sat against the city, and looked to see what God would do with the city. In the previous verse (4:4), the Lord asked Jonah if he thought he had a righteous reason to be angry. The prophet clearly had none. Nevertheless, consumed with disdain and hope for the destruction of his Gentile enemies, Jonah waited and watched.”
Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today: I have a big problem with a particular political party in our country, and although I at times want them destroyed because it seems to me that they are in bed with Satan, I would actually tell any of them to accept the salvation that Jesus offers them. However I think I spend too much time in watching the news, which makes me very upset, waiting for the Lord to return for His Church at the rapture so that He will then deal with all who are against them during the tribulation period. Sometimes my heart is sinful toward them, and I have to confess my sinful attitude to the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: That God will answer my prayer to give us wisdom for getting our medical insurance to be very helpful for both of us especially for dealing with my wife’s cancer.
11/21/2025 9:50 AM
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