At a conference I attended a while back, I mentioned in passing to someone that I do not believe that God punished people for their sin. The person I was talking to looked at me like I had lost my mind.
“If God doesn’t punish people for their sin,” he said, “then God is just an enabler, letting people get away with their sin.” The man thought I was going to back peddle from my position, but I didn’t. The truth is that I do believe God is a divine enabler. He is the biggest enabler the universe has ever seen.
It’s a challenging idea, I know, but it is what we are seeing here in Jonah, which somewhat explains Jonah’s frustration with God. Stick around and we’ll see more as we study Jonah 4:8 today.
The Text of Jonah 4:8
When the sun rose, God prepared a harsh, east wind and the sun attacked Jonah’s head and he became faint and begged with all his life to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.”
In this discussion of Jonah 4:8 we look at:
- Why that harsh east wind was probably strong rather than hot
- What it means for the sun to beat down on Jonah’s head
- Why Jonah wanted justice
- Why God did not want justice
- How this reveals that God is a divine enabler
Resources:
- Redeeming God Discipleship Area
- The Re-Justification of God Paperback book
- The Mystery of Christ, & Why We Don’t Get It – Capon
- Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes
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