Devotion 3: Lost Sight

Marc-E Delcamp

Growing up, I was an extremely competitive person. Honestly, I still hate losing, but when I was younger, my competitiveness went beyond just trying my best. I cared more about winning than about the people I was competing with. I wanted victory at any cost, and if I lost, I would get bitter and angry. In those moments, I lost sight of the whole reason I was playing in the first place.

Jonah does something similar in our passage. In Jonah 4:1-4, we read, “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.’ And the Lord said, ‘Do you do well to be angry?’”

Jonah is upset, not because something bad has happened, but because something good has happened. Nineveh repented, and God spared them. Instead of rejoicing, Jonah complains. He even admits in verse two that this is why he tried to flee in the first place. He knew God would show mercy.

How often do we lose sight of our purpose, even while doing the work of the Lord? Jonah preached repentance to Nineveh. He was doing God’s work, but his heart was far from God’s heart. Jonah had lost sight of what it was all about.

In verses five through eleven, God drives this lesson home. “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.’ But God said to Jonah, ‘Do you do well to be angry for the plant?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.’ And the Lord said, ‘You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?’”

God is showing Jonah that the real point of life is not victory, shade, or comfort, it’s God Himself. Scripture confirms this truth:

Jonah rejoiced in a plant, but only for a moment. When it was gone, his joy was gone too. He missed the bigger reality. It was never about Nineveh’s downfall, or even about the comfort of a little shade. It was always about God.

As you go through this week, take time to reflect on the goodness of God. Enjoy His presence, whether that’s through prayer, reading Scripture, or simply pausing to thank Him. Be intentional. It’s easy to lose sight of Him in the busyness of life, but setting aside these moments will help keep your heart focused on what truly matters.