Devotion 6: What Does God Value?
Josh Thayer
If you’ve ever read Jonah’s story, you know most of the spotlight falls on the big fish. But honestly, the real heart of the story isn’t the fish, it’s chapter four. This is where we see Jonah’s heart, and it’s not a pretty picture.
Jonah had preached to Nineveh, and to his surprise, they actually repented. God showed mercy. You’d think Jonah would be thrilled, right? Nope. He was angry, so angry that he even said he wanted to die (Jonah 4:3). Why? Because Jonah cared more about seeing Nineveh get what he thought they deserved than about seeing people experience God’s mercy.
That’s when God gives Jonah an object lesson. He appoints a plant to grow up and give Jonah shade. Jonah is very happy about the plant (Jonah 4:6). But the next day, God appoints a worm to destroy it, and Jonah is back to being angry—angry enough to want to die again.
Then God cuts to the point, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow...And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons?” (Jonah 4:10–11). Jonah’s problem is the same problem we often wrestle with. He cared more about his own comfort (a temporary plant) than he did about people made in God’s image.
It’s a sobering question for us: Do we value what God values?
- Do we care more about our comfort, our plans, our stuff, our “plants,” than about people who are far from God?
- Do we get more upset when something inconveniences us than when people around us don’t know Jesus?
The truth is, we’re all a little like Jonah. We get wrapped up in the temporary and forget about eternity, but God’s heart is clear. He loves people, even the ones we might write off, even the ones we think don’t “deserve” mercy.
The book of Jonah ends with a question, almost like God is leaving it open for us to answer. Will we align our hearts with His? Will we care more about people than plants?
Take inventory of what really grabs your heart. What gets you upset or excited? Ask God to shape your heart to care about what He cares about—people who need His mercy and grace. We are what God values. At the end of the day, plants fade, comfort fades, but people matter forever.