Lessons from Jonah

As I was doing my reading this morning, I really had a "God moment."  Now I'm sure some of you have those ALL the time during your quiet times, but for me, they are few and far between.  I'm not blaming God - on the contrary, I take ALL the blame.  Some mornings I'm incredibly tired and it's all I can do to be awake.  Some mornings, I don't get up.  Some mornings my mind is running a million miles an hour and I can barely keep a coherent thought in my head.  Today was such a morning.... I was thinking about some struggles we are going through with our kids, I was thinking about what I need to do at work, I was thinking about what I need to do at home, I was thinking about everything really except what I was reading about.  Our preacher is doing a series on Matthew (and by "series" I mean an 8 month "series" on Matthew) and we are in Chapter 12.  I was reading about the Pharisees and how they asked Jesus to perform a miracle. Then Jesus relates his life to the lives of prophets in the past and he mentions how Jonah spent three days in the whale and how He would spend three days and nights in the heart of the earth.  Our amazing preacher, when he gives us readings that mention OT stuff sends us to read in the OT, so I headed back to Jonah.  Now I know all of us know the story of poor Jonah, and I'm sure MANY of us can relate to poor Jonah - running as far away as we can from what we KNOW God has called us to do.  Well, we read about Jonah coming into the city and sharing with the people God's word and how they immediately turned against their wicked ways and sought forgiveness.  There is a whole big message for me there, but that is not what God had in mind for me this morning.  Being the overachiever that I am, I continued to read Chapter 4.  It says,

¹ But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. ² He prayed to the LORD, “Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. ³ Now, LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
 ⁴ But the LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
 ⁵ Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. ⁶ Then the LORD God provided a leafy plant^[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. ⁷ But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. ⁸ When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
 ⁹ But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
   “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
 ¹⁰ But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. ¹¹ And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

How many times have I disagreed with God and His choice to be gracious and merciful with other sinners?  Sure, I want his grace and mercy all the time, but I don't want Him to give it to people whom I decide do not deserve it.  Jonah hated the Ninevites so badly that he didn't even want to give them a chance to repent and get God's forgiveness.  He chose to run rather than to share God's good news for them.  Again, a great point right there, but that isn't what God wanted me to learn today either.  I immediately thought of my behaviors as a teacher.  I give our grace and mercy to students I deem worthy, but not to others.  God wasn't telling me to be so gracious and merciful as a teacher that I forgo all consequences of my students' actions - consequences are a very important lesson.  God was telling me that the WAY I do things needs to be full of grace and mercy.  I can get on to a student and still be merciful.  I can send a student for discipline and still show grace.  God does that for us...there will always be consequences for our behaviors, but God is there with his grace and mercy to walk us through those consequences.  He doesn't abandon us to suffer the consequences all alone because we deserve it.  He lets us experience the consequences with Him by our side. 

I always have that one student each year that I believe God puts into my classes to teach me something.  This year it is Herman (Names have been changed to protect the innocent :) ).  Herman DRIVES ME CRAZY!  Herman is your typical immature teenager - he wants everything his way when he wants it and no one is going to change his mind.  Herman never brings anything to class.  Herman never does his work, but somehow he never understands why he is failing..."I did that puzzle you gave us a week ago (actually six weeks ago)!  Didn't that bring up my grade?"  He never remembers that he failed every test he has taken and has not done homework since 7th grade.  To be completely honest, I do not like Herman.  Not at all.  I do a happy dance when I see that he is absent. I throw a party when he happens to be suspended - no, not really.  But this morning, as I read about stubborn old Jonah, I thought about myself.  God created Herman.  God loves Herman.  Jesus died on the cross for Herman.  I am a Christian.  I am supposed to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  I am supposed to love my neighbor.  But I have NOT loved Herman.  I have not shown Herman Jesus' love at all.  And I have had opportunities to be merciful....actually I have probably extended Hermany more chances than he deserved.  But have I ever stopped and explained any of this to him?  Have a ever tried to tell Herman that I do care about him, which is the reason WHY I expect more from him?  Maybe because I don't think Herman will listen.  Maybe because I don't want him to listen.  I am so much like Jonah.  He didn't want the Ninevites to have a chance at gaining God's forgiveness.  Am I doing that to Herman???  When God gave them the chance and they took it, Jonah was angry.  Would I feel that way as well? 

These are points I am pondering today as I see students come in and out of my room.  I won't see Herman today.  His choices have landed him into alternative school for a while.  So his normal class will be a little more peaceful and quiet.  But I will look at his empty desk for the next few weeks and know that I am like Jonah.  But, unlike Jonah, I won't go away angry.  Starting today, whenever I fuss at any (all) of my students, my children, I will tell them why.  I want so much more for them than they want for themselves.  I see so much potential in them, and it hurts me when I see them wasting it.  I have a plan for them in my class to make them better students, better citizens, and better people, and I don't understand why they don't trust me.  Right now, in this place, I know what they need...I know what is best for them...I can give them those things if they trust me, if they do what I say, if they follow my rules.  Sounds familiar...........