Emotional Turmoil

Jonah 4:3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

We all know people who “wear their emotions on their sleeve.” They are “way out there” when it comes to emotional expression. There is no small emotion to them. Their emotions overwhelm them and they lose all perspective on life. To others the intensity of their emotional expressions don’t match the situation. Their reactions seem over the top.

In our popular culture this out-of-control emotional outburst gets labeled “BiPolar.” But this isn’t BiPolar. This is emotional disregulation. This is often the result of some trauma experience. It became a coping mechanism that worked in the original situation, but now the reaction doesn’t fit. It is out of sync with the current situation.

I think Jonah was just such a person. The lengths he went to in an attempt to avoid getting face to face with the Ninevites is astounding. He knows in his rational mind that the LORD is Lord over all the land and sea, and yet his emotions block that from his thinking. He hops on a boat in an effort to get away from the LORD.

When the sailors are desperate to save their own lives in the middle of the storm, he acknowledges this fact. He knows the truth but his anger gets in the way of incorporating that truth into his actions. He reacts rather than acting. His emotions drive the train.

So Jonah gets rescued from death by a large fish who delivers him right to the shoreline. He had repented in the belly of the fish. You would think that would have had an impact on his emotional state. But it doesn’t seem to have affected him.

And he gets a slightly different mission statement from the LORD. This time instead of preaching “against” the city he goes to proclaim “to” the city. Now I don’t want to make too much of this since each of these words has a breadth of meaning and usage, but something changed between the the LORD’s first mission to Jonah and His second.

So Jonah proceeds to go to Ninevah and it seems as though he was not fundamentally changed in his heart. His emotions about Ninevah have changed and his anger bubbles to the surface. He becomes so angry that he has suicidal thoughts.

The book ends without anything really resolved. Jonah, as far as we can tell, is still angry. He has no change of heart. Whatever was in Jonah was still there.

But the people of Ninevah have changed in response to the LORD’s message.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be someone who is changed when I encounter the LORD. I don’t want to walk away the same. I want His transformational power to be evident in my life. I want holiness to be the hallmark of conduct.