A Heart Divided

The focus of the whole book changes back to the relationship between Jonah and God.

It's all about them.

Now, after a great spiritual victory in Nineveh, jonah's response is shocking and surprising, and leaves us with a profound question why Today we're going to continue to explore what caused Jonah's great collapse, after witnessing God's amazing victory At the end of chapter 3, verse 10, into chapter 4, jonah 3, verse 10, when God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way.

Jonah 3:10

Then Yahweh relented concerning the calamity which he had declared he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.

But this greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.

He prayed to the Lord Yahweh and said Please, yahweh, was this not what I said while I was still in my own country?

Therefore, in order to forestall this, I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abundant in loving, kindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.

For now, lord Yahweh, please take my life from me.

Death is better to me than life.

The Lord said.

Do you have a good reason to be angry?

Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it.

There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen to the city.

In Nineveh, jonah reaches the climax of his prophetic career.

He's done something probably nobody else, no single individual, could do.

His preaching turned a city full of violence and wickedness to faith in Yahweh and peace in the land.

And then the big surprise in chapter 4, verse 1, but it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.

Jonah was not happy that God had let the Ninevites off and that's the reason he gets angry.

What can explain this angry outburst?

How can we explain Jonah's dramatic mood swings?

I don't think it was hormonal.

How can we explain our drastic mood swings when things don't go our way?

So we're going to look at one possible answer today from Jonah.

Jonah is showing us here some tremendous emotional instability.

First, in chapter 2, he's praising God and he's so angry with God at the beginning of chapter 4, he wants to die.

Why is Jonah like that?

Well, I think the answer may be linked to what James said to us in the New Testament when he described a divided heart.

That's what we'll talk about today.

James 1, verses 5 to 8, says he's writing to people at the beginning here, people undergoing severe trials, and he says but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously, without reproach.

James 1:5–8

It'll be given to him, but he must ask in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, that man ought not to expect he'll receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Double-minded, we'll talk about that, but it could also be translated double-hearted.

What is a divided heart?

Divided heart that James talks about uses a funny Greek word for the divided heart.

Dipsikos means double-minded.

Two souls, two psyches, two hearts.

The context James is referring to what happens to our faith during times of trial and testing.

We become dipsikos when we don't trust God completely.

When we ask Him for help, our mind is still split between trusting the God of the universe and doubting Him.

Really, have my best interest in mine.

There's part of the problem.

We hold back our soul from completely giving it to Him.

We want to make sure our bases are covered.

I'll just say right now it's just never a good position to be in spiritually.

I like using the translation divided heart because it really does best describe Jonah's emotional instability.

From praise to violent anger.

Jonah's heart, his emotional state, is split between his worship of Yahweh and his hatred for Nineveh, split right down the middle.

This heart is divided.

What happened to Jonah is really a challenge to us, to our own hearts, heart of hearts.

Look at our own emotional instability.

This and then this, that and then some of you can come in this morning, sing along great worship songs, join the time together, but then you leave all of a sudden.

You're anxious, angry, discouraged.

Why is it that your belief in God is of no comfort to you when you're in distress?

Same thing is happening to Jonah.

Is it possible that our own emotional instability is due to a divided heart, that we're not fully devoted to the God we say we believe in?

That's what's happening here.

Really, at the root of a divided heart is a rival God in our heart that we're actually serving without even realizing it.

What's a rival God?

Well, we started to talk about this last week, but I want to continue it a little bit because it is the theme of Jonah, chapter four his rival gods and what to do with them.

Because his relationship with Yahweh will never be right in competition with these other sources of meaning and identity in his life.

The whole chapter we'll see in the next few times.

We're just going to go right through and this is what God is really trying to help Jonah see this through these weird, strange incidents that happen here in chapter four, arrival.

God is something we look to and rely on to give us meaning, purpose and happiness other than the true God.

Well, that's something we don't even know we have it, but I'll try to help us understand how we can identify it.

You gotta do is look at Jonah's example here.

When Jonah's anger at God moves him to say I would just as soon die, then go on living because of what you did.

Well, that statement tells us volumes about Jonah's spiritual state.

First, jonah is mad because he didn't get what he wanted in his heart.

Didn't get it, which was that God would nuke the Ninevites.

He hated them.

They were torturous, murderous people, wicked.

And when Jonah says that he would rather die, what he's saying is he's lost the whole source of meaning in his life.

Life doesn't make sense now.

Lost my potential happiness.

He had something that gave him meaning, that is, the nuking of Nunavut for the sake of his nation, israel, and now it's gone.

What was that something?

It.

Obviously, as I hinted, it has something to do with the Assyrians.

Perhaps he really just wanted vengeance.

Could have been vengeance.

Was that rival God?

He lost it.

We know the Assyrians sacked Jonah's homeland in northern Israel in 722 BC.

Perhaps, though, maybe not just vengeance maybe here's a great prophet of God in Israel, and can you imagine him going home and getting debriefed?

Yeah, I preached in that wicked city and God's judgment would come upon it.

And God let him off.

And what He'd probably lose face.

How could you let that happen?

Judah Jonas, preaching Israel's enemies, were spared.

Maybe he was facing his own reputation at home.

Maybe it was his own nationalism, if you will, wanting more security for his people, israel.

He would have that if Nunavut was wiped off the face of the earth.

Well, he lost it.

You see, for Jonah, a good thing love for his people had become a rival God.

He had to have it and he wanted to die if he didn't get it Without realizing it.

The same can be true of us.

Sometimes A good thing can become a rival God if we feel lost or empty without it.

Whatever the reason he got angry, it had to be a rival God.

He lost his whole purpose to live.

It was something that was more of a God to him than God.

It was something he derived his whole identity from, something that gave him meaning and purpose to live, and he lost it.

That's how you can tell if you're serving a rival God and the reason we may be experiencing spiritual and emotional instability.

A double-hearted person worships and serves the true God, but not completely Like King Amaziah in 2 Chronicles 25, 1 and 2,.

Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king.

He reigned 29 years in Jerusalem.

His mother's name was Jehoedon of Jerusalem.

He did right in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart.

A double-hearted person is devoted to the true God as long as he gives them what they want to live Underneath.

They're secretly devoted to the rival God and idol who can give them what they really want, whether it be money, success, pleasure, happiness, revenge, things, approval of others, recognition and so on and so on and so on down the list.

All rival gods.

If we want them more, we want them more than the true God, and if the true God doesn't give it to them, they get mad at God and their instability and divided heart shows up.

There it is.

Their heart is divided between the true God and the rival God.

If I don't get this, this is what I really want and you didn't give it to me I lost it.

Well, what's the reason to live?

I thought you were going to be a good guy.

Okay, I'll say more about this next time.

But the thing we need to know God.

Reveal the scriptures, reveal who God is.

It's the only God.

We've got the description in here, the revelation he's given us.

This is him, and you know one thing that says about him Yahweh is a jealous God.

I'll say more next week.

But he tolerates no rivals, none in our hearts.

We may be going through life and all of a sudden, we're emotionally unstable, we're flippin', flapping and we're thinking what on earth is going on?

God, where are you?

Well, maybe you've lost something you really think you had to have To be happy, fulfilled, and that ain't him.

So, like Jonah, watch what happens to you when God takes something away from you that you really want.

Do you still trust him?

Do you doubt him?

Do you get mad, depressed?

Does your instability surface?

You've got to be aware of what's happening in your soul, your spiritual life.

God is passionate about a relationship with those of us who believed in Jesus.

He's passionate.

He's going to move in powerful ways, just like he did with Jonah, to get us to see the truth.

When you lose your meaning in life like Jonah, it's because you lost your God.

When Jonah realized that his enemies were given God's grace and survived, he lost his meaning, what he really wanted to happen, his reason to live, which was God.

Nuking his enemies, not giving them grace.

What do you think God should do to your enemies?

People who snubbed you, treated you badly, fended you greatly deeply.

Do you wish that God would just strike them down?

Would you be okay if he didn't Give him grace instead?

That's what Jonah's facing.

He's trying to handle it.

He doesn't realize the division is hard.

He's serving another God.

He's not serving Yahweh with a whole heart.

See the day when serving the true God meant that he would stop serving his rival God.

You see, jonah turned on the true God.

He turned on him when he found out God's not giving me what I want.

That's what will happen.

Look at your own life.

Are you carrying two gods?

Is your heart divided?

Do you see these patterns of emotional instability?

You can go from praising God moment to anxiety, worry, fear or anger the next.

There's something going on in your heart.

If you have anything in your life that you say I simply must have this to be happy, to be at peace, to be secure other than the true God, and you get angry.

If you don't get it, you've got to divide it heart, and God is constantly working in our lives to purify our hearts.

Why?

So he can bless us, so we can know him as our ultimate sufficiency and blessing.

When these other gods start planting around in our life, we think that they're the ones that are going to give us all the stuff we want, and we're deceived.

I'm telling you I'm more convicted by preparing my own sermons than I think probably many of you are.

I'm working through.

Okay, help me out here.

See, don't tell me who your professed God is.

Tell me who the functional master in your day-to-day life is that you're relying on to make you feel happy and secure.

It gives you meaning and purpose.

Whatever controls you is your Lord.

Well, how do you know who your functional masters are?

Well, here's a couple of ways to tell.

Look at how you respond to the Lord when he doesn't answer your prayers or give you what you desire, frustrated your desires.

He's not giving it to you.

Do you get mad?

Stop talking to God.

Pouting, pouting, waiting to see.

Maybe your pouting, god will come to his senses and give you what you want.

Let me tell you from experience that does not work.

Do you have frustrated that life isn't happening the way you want it to?

These are all signs of a rival God.

Second, look at when you get most down on yourself.

Are you unhappy and disappointed because something you did you weren't happy with and you continued to beat yourself up over it and feel worthless?

An idol the reason I connected here.

An idol, a false God, will speak into your life with the authority of a God.

You'll believe it.

A false God says if you satisfy all my standards, then, and only then, will I allow you to feel good about yourself.

Only then.

False God speaking, if you fail, you're not a worthwhile person.

It's a false God, a rival God.

The true God says okay, you've sinned, confess your sin, you failed.

I don't condemn you.

Go and sin no more.

The true God says I love you, I accept you as righteous in my eyes because of what my son did for you, no matter how far you fail or fall.

That's the true God.

Jesus has already lived the perfect life and he's imputed that to you.

If you believe in him, well, do you believe the true God or the false God speaking?

Well, let's talk finally about how do you heal a divided heart.

This is not easy.

I've worked through this myself many times.

The first thing we need to do.

This is so subtle because, like I said, we first need to be aware of our own spiritual slash, psychological slash, emotional.

If you're seeing these swings, you're praising love in the presence of God and then, all of a sudden, that does not compute.

There's something going on there.

Being aware of your own psyche, your own soul, starts there and then identify, if you can, the rival God that's in your heart.

I could take you through some of mine.

One of my rival gods is approval of people.

I've always struggled with that particular See, if people approve me, I feel good about myself.

When people don't like me, yeah, oh, that's not good.

I'm all over the map.

I'm repressed.

I'm like Linda will tell you.

I'm home writing, looking my resume, writing my resignation.

I'm no good, I'm worthless.

Based on what people said, people have actually called me the worst leader they've ever met.

What am I supposed to do with that?

Well, the Lord knows I love approval and sometimes he takes it away.

Why?

Because the only approval that really matters is him.

It's a hard lesson.

That rival God keeps coming up appearing and I smash it down again, first identifying it.

Ask yourself why, why do I feel so depressed, like this way he's doing with Jonah?

He's helping him.

Why, what do you want?

I want Ninevites nuked.

Well, you can't have it.

Who's your real God?

Will you trust me?

Yeah, see again, one key is something you think you have to have from life to make any sense or to make you happy at all.

This passage is so rich and it's fascinating how God is helping Jonah here To help Jonah identify his rival.

God God helps him by asking that question.

It's a question we need to ask ourselves.

Why Justify this unstable emotion?

It could be anything Fear, anxiety.

What are you worried about?

What is it that you really want that you're not getting?

Do you see that he wants to be the ultimate source of that?

See, he asked Jonah.

Give me a reason.

Jonah couldn't answer, he didn't want to face it.

By the time God is done with Jonah in chapter 4, I think he'll get it because he's going to go through several rival gods.

Now he asked Jonah I got to mention this because it's very interesting.

In the text itself, god asks if he has a good reason to be angry.

Listen to me, there are legitimate reasons to be angry.

You know why God gave us that emotion in the first place?

As a defense against evil in the world.

We need to be angry.

We should get angry at evil.

God has given us that capacity as a defense mechanism.

Stay away, don't do that.

Rescue that Injustice, evil.

But in Jonah, chapter 4, verse 1, let me read to you literally what it says in Hebrew.

Jonah 4:1

The English translations they try to flower over it a little bit.

Let me read it to you.

Here's what the Hebrew says in chapter 4, verse 1.

When God did not do it, it says but that was a great evil to Jonah and he became angry.

To Jonah what God did was evil.

No, that's not legitimate In Jonah's mind.

What God did in sparing, giving them grace, was evil.

They didn't deserve it.

See, you guys understood the gospel, yet it's based on what we do.

Jonah is calling what the righteous God did as evil.

You shouldn't have done that.

I'm accusing you of wrong.

Wow, you see, many times at the bottom of our anger is a false God.

Not all the time there's a righteous anger, and so on, but many times we're mad because we didn't get what we wanted.

Look at it, be aware of it.

What is it that I really want?

In Jonah's case, god is going to have a few more things to say that it's going to help him smash these things.

But then, once we identify whatever it is in our heart of hearts, we confess it as sin, we repent of it, turn our hearts back to God and finally, the most important thing to heal a divided heart is to give our heart back to Jesus completely.

Whole, not part.

Whole, no reservation, no conditions.

Whole, I want you.

These things are great, but I want you.

You know God.

The kings in Israel, many of them, served God with a divided heart.

I read one earlier King Abesha I Kings 15.3,.

It says this he walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord, his God, like the heart of his father, david.

But then God comes along and to these kings who serve him, he encouraged them to serve him with a whole heart, like he did with King Abesha in 2 Chronicles 16.9.

The Lord says for the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his.

That's what to aspire to, and we know we've given our heart back to him when we begin trusting him without reservation when things in our life don't go the way we want.

I trust you, lord.

I believe what you say about this.

Instead of rejoicing and celebrating the ministry among the Ninevies, jonah pouts and angrily announces his displeasure, calling what God did evil.

And this just revealed Jonah's rival God deep in his heart.

And God is trying to help him and deal with that.

The opposite of a pure heart in the Bible is not an impure heart, it's a divided heart.

It's a divided heart.

So we need to pray with the Psalmist in Psalm 8611.

Lord, teach me your way.

O Lord, I'll walk in your truth.

Unite my heart to fear your name.

You know this already, but there's a spiritual conflict that goes on in our hearts all the time, flesh and spirit.

Satan would love to get us to fall more in love with our rival, god, promising all these great things Proval of men, success in this money about that Love, to get us to fall in love more with that than with Jesus.

The apostle Paul warns us of this in 2 Corinthians 11.3.

He says to the Corinthians I'm afraid that, as a serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds and also refers to the heart, maybe let astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

To completely trust in Jesus with an undivided heart is only possible, only possible when you know him personally in your heart.

You know him personally in your heart.

When you believe in him, he sends his spirit into us to testify that he is in us.

As the Romans eloquently states, when Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead, he was highly exalted above all other gods, exalted above all other powers in heaven and on earth.

And to trust him completely with our life is to put our life in the hands of the one whose Lord of all.

Let's do that, father, thank you.

You are the true God.

We praise you.

You are a creator and redeemer.

There's no God like you.

There's no other God but you alone.

Open our eyes to see and if we need to repent of any rival God that we're devoted to in our heart, help us to serve you, jesus, with a whole heart and willing mind, no matter what your loving hand brings.

Lord, don't let us leave today in the spirit of praising you and out the door we're again swinging back to the anxiety and the fear and the anger.

We desperately need your help, lord, and commit our lives to you In Jesus' name, amen.