Jonah’s Character Development

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

This is fascinating to me because it ties in very nicely with the process of our sanctification. As we submit ourselves (cooperate with), to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we should begin to see a change in our values, so that our values align more with God’s. That happens because our gaze shifts from a self-focus to a Godward focus. Our change in values leads to a change in our character.

This concept is extremely important. I was reading some chapters in John MacArthur’s book, How to Counsel Biblically. One chapter in particular stood out to me, written by Douglas Bookman. His chapter titled, The Godward Focus of Biblical Counseling was eye-opening. He spoke of the prophet Jonah and how he (and all of us), give into sin’s luster by believing lies that at other times, would seem preposterous, yet, because they are often so inviting, we embrace them willingly.

Jonah essentially came to the point of being overcome by the lying vanities he told himself. He thought his way was far better than God’s. He did not want to preach to the Ninevites because of his hatred for them. He didn’t want to see them repent and for God to not go through with their destruction. He thought he knew better than God and isn’t that the root of every problem we face? That would be a resounding “yes.”

Bookman starts off by noting that “biblical counseling is animated by a godward focus.” All too often though, even within so-called biblical counseling, the focus is on the counselee rather than God. This ultimately exalts self. Consider Adam and Eve, who thought they knew better than God because they chose to deliberately believe the Tempter when he lied to them that they would become like God Himself. They took the bait and forever changed the face of humanity that will only be completely corrected when Jesus returns in His second coming. While God intended a Creation (including all people), which exemplified His character (serving and loving one another), it changed to a Creation that exemplified Satan’s character as seen in people’s worship of Self (serving and loving Self).

In truth, our souls can only be fully satisfied in God, living according to His design and purposes, period. Even if we cannot see that in its fullness, we should be able to grasp it to some extent. That is the way He made us and it is for His glory that He did that. Someone might say, “Well, that’s pretty egotistical of God to design things so that He receives all the glory, isn’t it?” Not when we consider the fact that within the three Persons of the Godhead, each glorifies the other. Jesus lived to bring glory to His Father. The Father glorifies the Son. The Holy Spirit empowers the believer to bring glory to God. It’s a reciprocal relationship and God wants us to be part of that.

Jonah is a perfect example of what happens when placing Self on the throne, instead of God. In truth, the biggest part of the believer’s continuing sanctification is the effort we must make to always be Godward focused in this life. Not only is this true in the life of each believer, but it is true in the area of biblical counseling. Secular counseling sessions are always focused on the person, the counselee. They are told that they don’t love themselves enough or that they need to change circumstances so that they are not having to deal with the problems they face. It’s all about them. True biblical counseling focuses on God and how He supplies our need and gets us through situations that are unpalatable to us in order to change our values, reflected in our changed character.

Jonah set himself up against God and actually came to the point where (as Bookman notes), Jonah “…consciously conceived of YHWH as a local deity so bound by space that a person could escape His presence by taking ship.” When we read that in Scripture, we find it absurd, but Jonah believed the lie and went with it. He thought if he could just get away, far away to some place where God was allegedly absent, then things would be fine. Did he actually believe that? I doubt it, yet his anger toward God and the situation God sent him into caused him to embrace that lie and prompted him to run away in the hopes of getting out from under God’s loving command for the Ninevites.

As Bookman also notes, “…a lie is effective only because of our selfish predisposition.” We constantly place ourselves on a pedestal and then wonder why we are not happy or filled with peace. It is solely due to the fact that we were not designed to live that way. A Godward focus is completely absent, having been replaced with a selfish or egocentric focus. This focus keeps us bound to our sin, furthering our selfishness. A Godward focus is in essence, “losing” our life and finding true life.

Christians are certainly by no means exempt from this attitude as we see in Jonah and many other people throughout Scripture. Look at Peter, who denied His own Lord, the very Lord Peter said was “Christ, the Son of God!” Yet, to preserve himself, Peter denied that he knew Jesus at all (Luke 22:54–57; Mark 14:69–70; Matthew 26:73–75). Peter’s values at that point were totally Self-focused, causing him to deny the truth. That eventually changed though and it can and should change with us as well.

That’s the thing. The more we focus on self, the more we become self-focused, more egotistical, wanting to do what self wants us to do. But God wants to change that and only He can, but we need to cooperate. He does this by pointing us to Jesus, the God-Man who lived a life of absolute sinlessness and always considered the Father and others before He considered Himself. In this way, He glorified the Father because God – all three Persons – exist in a way that does not at all cater to Self. The Holy Spirit is provided to help make us more Godward in our approach to God.

The goal of God for every believer is that they become fully Godward in focus, moving constantly away from Self. This is, in a nutshell, the very thing that is foundational in our sanctification. We spend the rest of our lives after receiving salvation moving away from Self and toward God, replacing the things that want us to embrace Self with the things that move us to worship God in all we do, think and say. Jonah did not do that and his first reaction to God’s command was to run, to obey and preserve Self. His values then, were focused on what he wanted, what he felt, what he thought best to do.

Jonah repented while he was in the belly of the great fish. He came to understand that God’s love for those whom Jonah did not even like, was superior to his (Jonah’s), feelings about the Ninevites. God loved the people of Nineveh and wanted them to have an opportunity to repent. Jonah? Not so much.

Jonah had not initially considered what God wanted.

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (Ezekiel 18:23)

After God had shown Jonah that His ways were best, Jonah relented and obeyed the Lord. The prophet repented of his sin and did what God set out for him. Interestingly enough, the people of Nineveh, starting with the king, repented. A king in those days was like a mayor of a city. The entire city of Nineveh repented and sought God’s favor (Jonah 3). Because the people sincerely repented, God relented of His plan to destroy them.

However, in Jonah 4, we see that Jonah did not take kindly to the Ninevites’ repentance and became angry again. Jonah even prays to God after the people of Nineveh repented, “I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.” (v2b) Then he wants God to take his life! Once again, Jonah’s values are seen in how he reacts to God’s graciousness. Jonah was not Godward focused, but self-focused still. God wants every child of His to become like Him – full of love, grace and mercy and forgiving toward others.

God ends the discussion by making these statements and asking this question.

10…You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?

There were over 120,000 people living in Nineveh at the time who would have been destroyed if God had followed through with His plan of destruction. Since He is God and has made everything, He and He alone has the right to raise up or destroy as He sees fit, doesn’t He? Yet, Jonah was upset that God had turned away from His wrath. Do you/we ever exult in the potential of someone being “judged” and “getting what they deserve”? Maybe repentance is in order.

The more we seek and see Jesus, the more our values will change to align with His. This then will be reflected in our character in this life. We will become more and more onboard with His plans, His wishes, His love for the lost of this planet, exercising grace, love, mercy and forgiveness. Yet, in too many instances – even in the Church – Christians are coddled, told that God wants us to be happy, He wants us to enjoy life and will give us our heart’s desires so that we feel fulfilled in the here and now. Never mind that many of the verses used to support this line of thinking are taken completely out of context and changed into meaning what they do not mean. We are only truly at peace when we share His values, which changes our character and the way we think and live into His. It’s the way He designed us.

This is never more true than in counseling sessions with another believer (even informally), who has questions and feels as though they are failing at being a Christian. All Christians are called to encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:14), and even to coach one another, which is a form of discipleship. Yet, even within professional counseling circles, Christians are not told the truth by being directed toward God, but usually told the problem they have is within them and they simply need to focus on how to love themselves more, etc. We actually love ourselves too much already.

It seems clear that Jonah loved himself a good deal. Because of it, he had arrived to a point of thinking that he knew far better than God did. That is due to Jonah’s love of Self. It is still amusing to me that God used Jonah as an actual prophet because he 1) did not want to carry out God’s commands, and 2) got seriously angry when he saw how much compassion God had for people Jonah did not like. But before I start thinking I know more than God, let me say that God’s ways are not my ways. He knows far better than I do about all things. There was a purpose in God choosing Jonah for a task that Jonah ultimately did not want to participate in (but did eventually), and in Jonah, I can see myself too clearly at times.

How often have I shrunk from doing what God wants me to do because it wasn’t convenient for me? How often have I questioned God because I thought I knew better?

Consider the Pharaoh of Exodus. Didn’t he say to Moses in Exodus 5:2 essentially, “Who is the LORD that I should listen to Him?“, but then found out exactly who the LORD was at the crossing of the Red Sea and and Pharaoh did glorify the God of the universe at that point! How many times do I follow the vanity of lies of my own self, toward a bad end? How many times will I do that until I learn to pursue God’s values, not Self’s?

God was indeed glorified in Jonah’s situation because the people of Nineveh turned to Him in repentance. Jonah wasn’t interested though because his Self-focus pulled him away from God. I’d love to know how Jonah thought and how he lived after the entire situation had come to an end. As far as we know, Jonah 4 is essentially the last thing we hear about Jonah, though he is referenced in other parts of Scripture. We don’t know what his life was like after this whole situation. Did his values change so that his character became more like Christ’s or, did he fail the test and quietly lived the remainder of his life out of the limelight in miserable failure? The extreme difference in the way Job responded to God and the way Jonah responded to God is stark.

The more we allow/work with God to change our values, the more we become like Jesus in character. This only happens when we actively participate in giving ourselves over to Him and His will, doing the very things that Jesus did as He lived His physical life here. There is no quick change in our life unfortunately. It is something that occurs over the remainder of our lives, but we must choose to become more and more Godward focused. While it may be impossible to do this 100% of the time without fail, it is possible to work toward it and is, in fact, our high calling (Philippians 3:14).

Let’s be clear. God did not leave us helpless.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires… (2 Peter 1:3-4 ESV)

Focus on those verses. Memorize them. Repeat them to yourself and even pray and discuss them with God. Is this something you want? Is this something that God wants for you? He will make it happen as you/we make the effort to turn to Him asking Him to make this come alive within us. We want His values so that He can form the character of Jesus within us.

If we are honest, every one of us has some of Jonah within us. God’s goal is to eradicate and replace that with the character of His blessed Son. For that to happen, you/we must participate actively with God. There is no other way that I know of to gain the character of Jesus. It takes time and persistence and a good deal of help from the indwelling Holy Spirit within each believer.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2025/11/07/jonahs-character-development/