The Worst Cliffhanger in the Bible

Jonah finally obeyed God and preached to Nineveh, but when the whole city repented, he was furious instead of glad. This final chapter of Jonah is the most uncomfortable one, because it exposes a problem most of us share. It's possible to do the will of God without the heart of God. We can do the right thing with the wrong motives, obey while resenting it, and receive God's mercy while refusing to extend it to others. Jonah loved God's blessings but hated God's lessons, and his story ends on a strange cliffhanger that leaves the question hanging over us instead of him. Through a plant, a worm, and a scorching wind, God gently confronts the gap between Jonah's actions and his heart. The real main character was never Jonah anyway. It was the gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, who never stopped pursuing the very people Jonah wanted to give up on.