How We Lose Eternal Perspective

Have you ever felt as though God has let you down? You had certain dreams, certain aspirations, and certain hopes. But those things didn’t turn out as you planned.

Jonah felt like God had let him down. He was angry that God didn’t judge the people of Nineveh, and he was actually falling into sin.

There are a lot of ways to fall into sin. Sin makes us stupid, so we don’t think clearly.

That’s what happened to Jonah. He was in a state of spiritual failure. The Bible tells us, “Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun” (Jonah 4:5–6 NLT).

Jonah pulled up a ringside seat, hoping to be entertained. But things didn’t go as planned, because the next verse says, “God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away” (verse 7 NLT).

God had spared thousands of lives, yet Jonah was upset that he lost his temporary comfort. God told him, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. . . . But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” (verse 10–11 NLT).

Jonah lost his eternal perspective, and we can do the same thing. Sometimes we think too much about ourselves and don’t think about people who don’t know the Lord. God cares about lost people—and so should we.