Important Relationships – Jonah 4:6-11

The account of Jonah's ministry and subsequent response is a reminder to us that great triumphs may be attended by great trials as God is pleased to accomplish things through His servant as well as in His servant simultaneously. Little did Jonah realize how his calling to preach to Nineveh would affect his own soul, revealing his heart and instructing him in the purposes and character of the God he presumptuously second guessed. Other prophets of scripture can relate. I Kings 19 records Elijah's despair of soul upon his successful contest of divine power which shamed and killed every prophet of Baal in the land. The occasion revealed the weakness of the prophet and the compassion of the Lord. Yahweh, the personal and sovereign Lord who rescues nations at the same time He reveals Himself one-on-one to His child. Elijah is encouraged by the ministry of angels and the instruction of God Himself, just as Jonah is patiently corrected by the Lord who administers discipline to His legitimate sons (Heb 12). What are the invaluable lessons we should take to heart from these passages For one: salvation belongs to the Lord, not to us – secondly, in our text today, we are further instructed as to critical relationships in the plan of God and the life of the believer...