The Love of Temporal Comforts

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Jonah 4:5-6 “Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.”

Look at the prophet Jonah here. In the prior verses, he was very angry with God because he knew that God would forgive Nineveh. He was very angry because the people of Nineveh repented and returned to the Lord. Then we read in the verse above that he became “very happy” because God appointed a plant to grow over him and give him shade from the hot sun. It was this temporal comfort that made him very happy and not the repentance of Ninevites.

Most of us are like the prophet Jonah. We consider ourselves to be blessed by the Lord when we receive many material blessings from Him like money, a new house, high-paying job, etc. These things make us very happy and we use them as signs that God is blessing us. Some Pastors today are even using having a new car as a sign that their ministry is being blessed by God. Just like Jonah, we love these temporal comforts that make us very happy. We appreciate them a lot that we often post them on social media whenever we receive them. But our Lord wanted to teach Jonah and us that the most important things are not temporal comforts or material blessings. The Lord wanted Him to learn that the repentance of Nineveh is far greater blessing than a little comfort from the heat of the sun. We should learn to appreciate the spiritual blessings more than the temporal ones.