Of Prophets and Providence

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, (emphasis added) in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Jonah 4:5-11

Christians are complex people, and necessarily so. When you walk outside on a crisp fall morning and see the beautiful colors of the changing leaves, you recognize the wonder of God’s creation. When you witness a young child laugh uncontrollably for the first time, you see joy manifested. And so on and so on. Beauty, grace, awe, wonder – there is so much to soak up this side of heaven. And yet, we don’t need to look much further to notice the brokenness that is equally all around us. Wounded relationships, broken bodies, or the death of our loved ones. As Christians, we must hold in balance both the blooming flowers and the tragedy of sin. Two things can be true at the same time.

But if we are being intellectually honest, we can only hold those truths together with an understanding of a Creator who orders it all for His glory and our good. Even that which we couldn’t possibly understand. God’s Word in the last chapter of Jonah’s story helps us to see ourselves in light of the order of the universe.

As we read Jonah, we sit in the cheap seats and watch as God’s petulant prophet fights the inevitable and then stomps his feet all the way to self-induced misery. In this last chapter, Jonah makes the mistake of despair in the shadow of providence. He neglects the fact that, as he sat on his stump of unqualified judgment, it was his Creator’s hand working for his good. What he discovered then, and we are reminded of now, is that God is at work directing everything to its appointed end.

The text is filled with examples of the Lord’s hand at work – He is “appointing” everywhere. Right on the page, we see that the Lord appointed the plant to give Jonah shade. He appointed the worm that attacked the plant and withered it. He appointed the scorching east wind to magnify the discomfort. All for Jonah’s good and the Lord’s glory. This doctrine of providence is pervasive.

And yet, here is God’s chosen prophet still sulking in disbelief; or, as one commentator puts it, “needlessly plunging himself into distress from the violence of his own unhallowed temper.”ⁱ We read in disbelief as Jonah feels victimized by God’s hand at work, when we so often emulate Jonah in our own lives.

Thankfully, we have the tools of the saints of old to remind us. Question 27 in the Heidelberg Catechism reads: “What do you understand by the providence of God?” The answer comes: “Providence is the almighty and ever-present power of God, by which He upholds, as with His hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact—come to us not by chance but from His fatherly hand.”

Sometimes, God’s providence can feel like He is against us, and how quickly we are accepting of that narrative. Jonah certainly was – he was audacious enough to say to his own Creator that “it is better for me to die than to live.” And if we are being honest, sometimes it can feel like He is killing all that we care about, even what we are certain in our own minds is righteous. But in the instant case as well as in all of ours, He isn’t killing us – He is killing sin. He is killing our perceptions of control, our idols, and our pride. He is killing sin that is sometimes very dear to us.

But the Lord doesn’t leave us alone to sort out the details – we have His Scripture as our guide. To paraphrase Ligon Duncan, the Word of God is a conspiracy to bless us.ⁱⁱ We can know through faith that Jesus reigns, and His commands for our lives are integrated into His perfect design to bless us.

The story of Jonah is incredible, even illustratively supernatural. And it can be so captivating that we could so easily hang on the question at the end: “And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city?” We are left wondering, what was Jonah’s response? Where is the Old Testament lament? All the tearing of clothes, sackcloth, and ashes stuff?

The theological point of the silence is, of course, intentional. It is not a hanging-chad of biblical errancy. It is the Lord asking you, how will you respond to His providence? How often are we stomping our feet like Jonah at the providence at hand?

“This present providence may disappoint, but the promises of God will never deceive.” Matthew Henry ⁱⁱⁱ

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ⁱ Patrick Fairbairn, Jonah: His Life, Character and Mission (Edinburgh: John Johnstone, 1849), 97.
ⁱⁱ Ligon Duncan, “Sanctification is Good News for the Christian”, The Gospel Coalition, TGCW21, 7/14/22 
ⁱⁱⁱ Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710).