Not Fair

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah 4:1–3
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Not Fair
            The Bible is full of accounts of people being upset with God because of the mercy He shows others. The parable of the laborers in the vineyard, the parable of the prodigal son, and here in Jonah. We want to be forgiven for our trespasses yet find it unbearable when God forgives those whom we deem to be unforgivable. In our sinful natures, we gloat in the knowledge that we are forgiven while others have rejected God’s grace. They will see, we tell ourselves. They’ll be sorry. This was the case for Jonah. He hated to see Nineveh come to repentance because he hated them. They had done so much harm and lorded their power over God’s people for so long. In Jonah’s mind, they did not deserve forgiveness. The truth is Jonah was right, they did not deserve forgiveness, nor did Jonah, or us for that matter. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We deserve death. Yet God in His infinite love and mercy sent His only Son to reconcile us to Himself. We have what we do not deserve, we have a loving Father who forgives us for the sake of His Son. The wrath which should have been Nineveh’s, Jonah’s, and ours, was poured out on Christ as He hung nailed to the cross. We give thanks to our good God that we have His forgiveness and are included among His children.