Jonah 4:5-8 (ESV)

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.”

Do not try this at home!

God does something here that we should never do. Jonah is so upset by what happened in Nineveh that he says (in verse 3), “Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

The LORD’s response is to thwack him again! He blesses Jonah with a shade plant and then takes it away. Then He breaks out a scorching east wind. If you or I tried teaching a lesson this way, there’d be a real chance we’d push Jonah over the edge.

But God has inside information on how much pushing Jonah can handle. His goal is to break Jonah, without killing him and thus teach a valuable lesson. Jonah is now reduced to a whimpering pile of self-pity.

Good. Now he’s ready to learn.

We get like this too. God pushes us and we get all self-absorbed and forget to think about why our trials are happening.

But the Lord is determined to see us grow, so He pushes hard. Whenever you get a bout of self-pity, just remember 1 Corinthians 10:13.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (ESV)

1 Corinthians 10:13 is about temptation, but it applies more generally. Our trials are not special; they are what is common to man. And notice that Paul doesn’t just say, “Get over yourself.” He gives us specifics. God takes us to the edge, but not over it.

We’re students. The teacher isn’t going to go easy on us.

Great teachers never do.

All the weekly study guides, which include all five devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

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https://www.amazon.com/Higher-Purposes-Lesson-God-Job/dp/1684719534