Chapter 4: God's Refining Work

Bible Reading:

Jonah 4 (whole chapter)

In this final message, we will speak about God’s refining work. This is a deeper spiritual experience, yet we will try to explain it in simple and accessible terms. We must understand that God’s consistent intention is for His will to be carried out on earth, so that people may turn to Him. Therefore, He uses human beings to accomplish this sacred mission.

However, God’s using us is not His ultimate purpose. His ultimate purpose in using people is to fully gain them, shaping us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). He desires to transform us into spiritual people, becoming vessels of honor. This is God’s final intention for man. Thus, while God uses us on one hand, He also stretches out His hand to work on us on the other. This is exactly what the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.”

Thus, in Jonah we see that when he was sent by God and used by Him, the entire city of Nineveh repented—turning from their evil ways and abandoning the violence in their hands. In terms of mission, Jonah had completed what God entrusted to him. But in terms of Jonah himself, there were still many natural, fleshly corruptions within him—hidden elements of self and mixed motives that had not yet been fully refined by God, nor deeply dealt with by the cross—he could not yet become a vessel of honor. He could not yet become a truly spiritual man, nor fully manifest the image of the Son of God. For this reason, we must take Jonah chapter 4 as the background to speak about God’s refining work.

I. The Hidden Self Exposed

Chapter 4 of this book records how the self of the prophet Jonah—his fleshly nature—was exposed by God. Now we will specifically point out the expressions of Jonah’s hidden self and the corruption of his flesh that were revealed, in order to show how the Lord refines our natural corruption and cleanses the impurity of our flesh. This is the experience of God’s refining.

When God saw that the people of Nineveh sincerely repented, He could not bring upon them the disaster He had declared. Yet look at what Jonah 4:1 records: “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.” This is truly remarkable. Jonah had been greatly used by God; he should have been greatly rejoicing. Instead, he was “exceedingly displeased.” To be “exceedingly displeased” means he was unhappy. And unhappiness is one expression of the flesh. In other words, Jonah’s great displeasure reveals the corruption of the hidden self within him.

1. Unwilling to forgive

   Indeed, the city of Nineveh was exceedingly sinful and deserved to be cursed. According to justice, God should have executed judgment; He cannot treat the guilty as though they were innocent. Yet when people repent, confess their sins, and turn back, God not only grants abundant forgiveness but also refrains from bringing upon them the disaster He had decreed. When Jonah saw that the Lord had changed His intention, he became upset. This reveals something within the flesh of man: a spirit that refuses to forgive, a disposition that condemns others. This “unwillingness to forgive,” this condemning spirit, is deeply rooted in the flesh of humanity.

   Is it not so? When someone maliciously slanders you behind your back and you later find out, are you willing to forgive their ignorance and forget their offense? Oh! To refrain from condemning and instead forgive is a very difficult lesson to learn unless the Lord grants mercy. If Jonah had recalled how he himself had once rebelled against the Lord, even to the point of giving up on himself and destroying his own spiritual future; if he had remembered that it was the Lord’s preserving hand that prepared a great fish, and the Lord’s unrelenting love that refused to let him go—giving him the chance, in the belly of the fish, to reflect and realize that the Lord is slow to anger and abundant in mercy and grace, and that God was willing to use him again, or else he would have been buried in the sea. Then he would not have condemned others or refused forgiveness. His heart would have been calm; he would no longer have been provoked to anger.

   When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He told a parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the reckoning, a man who owed ten thousand talents was brought to him. Because he could not repay the debt, the king ordered that he be sold as a slave—along with his wife, children, and all his possessions—to pay what he owed. The servant fell down before the master and pleaded, “Have patience with me, and I will repay you.” The master was moved with compassion, showed him mercy, released him, and forgave him the entire debt.

   But that servant, upon leaving, found a fellow servant who owed him ten denarii. He seized him, grabbed him by the throat, and said, “Pay back what you owe.” His fellow servant fell down and pleaded, “Have patience with me, and I will repay you.” But he refused; instead, he had him thrown into prison until he could repay the debt. Those who witnessed this went and reported it to the master. The master immediately summoned him and said, “You wicked servant! Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?” In anger, the master handed him over to the jailers until he repaid all he owed. After finishing the parable, Jesus added: “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses” (Matthew 18:35)

   May the Lord have mercy on us. Through this parable, may He remind us on one hand to examine whether there is within us a spirit that condemns and refuses to forgive. On the other hand, may He draw us before Himself, so that we may be delivered from prideful, restless anger and become people who continually praise and give thanks.

   
   

2. Concern for one's own image

   Jonah saw that the Lord had changed His intention and would not bring disaster upon Nineveh, and he became exceedingly displeased and very angry. The greatest reason for his anger was the “concern for his own image.” The self is always deeply concerned about outward image. Jonah had been sent to Nineveh, and the entire city recognized him as the prophet of the Lord. When the people of Nineveh heard Jonah’s warning, they repented of their past sins and turned to the true God. God then changed His intention and did not bring calamity upon Nineveh. If, after forty days, Nineveh was not overthrown, then Jonah’s prophecy would not be fulfilled. This would truly damage Jonah’s reputation and affect the dignity of his prophetic identity. Therefore, in order to preserve the sacred status of his prophetic role—in order to save face—Jonah protested and complained to the Lord: "Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” (Jonah 4:2–3) This shows us that the self in man is concerned with his own image, rather than considering or aligning with the heart of God. May the Lord have mercy on us, so that we may remember the compassion of the Lord Jesus and not be preoccupied with our own image, lest we hinder others from receiving the gospel.

   
   

3. Love for oneself

   Jonah 4:5–6 records: "So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah [b]was very grateful for the plant." Here we see that after Jonah protested and complained to the Lord, he built a shelter for himself so he could sit under it and watch from a distance—waiting to see what would happen to the city. At that moment, the Lord, whose eyes search the hearts and minds of all people, prepared a plant. In a single day it grew tall enough to rise above Jonah’s head, providing shade and delivering him from his discomfort. Jonah “was very grateful for the plant.” This expression of selfishness, self‑interest, self‑pity, and self‑love reveals the fleshly tendency of loving oneself. It also exposes the true nature of the flesh: acting according to one’s own preferences, caring nothing for others, thinking only of oneself.

   To love oneself (self‑centeredness) and to love others (self‑denial) are as incompatible as water and fire. Those who love themselves make "self" the center of everything—their thoughts, words, actions, and daily living all revolve around their own benefit. Oh! Today this “love of self” hides within both you and me. Therefore, God must refine these things out of us.

   
   

4. Not loving God nor loving others

   Jonah not only failed to love God, but he also failed to love people. Consider Jonah’s words: “It is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 4:3) This shows that after protesting against the Lord, he sat down to wait and watch whether the Lord would still bring disaster upon Nineveh—only then would he feel satisfied. He did not consider that God’s heart is filled with mercy and compassion. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. How great is God’s love for humanity! Yet Jonah did not align himself with God’s love in saving Nineveh. Nor did he consider the repentance of the Ninevites. Instead, he preferred to see the great city of Nineveh destroyed. Oh! What Jonah’s self revealed was this: he did not love God, nor did he love others.

   1 John 4:20–21 tells us: “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” This means that if we truly love God, we will also love others.

   We cannot see God, but we can see people. Therefore, the evidence of loving God is seen in whether we love others. With this in mind, we ought to earnestly pray before the Lord, asking Him to pour His love into our hearts—so that we may be filled with His compassion and mercy, His kindness and goodness; so that we may be patient, holy, and humble like Him, willing even to save others at the cost of our own lives. Amen.

II. God's Refining Work

From Jonah we see very clearly how ugly the condition becomes when the hidden self is exposed. Therefore, God must stretch out His refining hand, for only God’s refining can deliver the self. Only by passing through God’s refining can we become vessels of honor that align with His heart—becoming truly spiritual man. Concerning how God refined Jonah, we will present two major aspects:

1. God’s Authority Governs All Things

   God is in the highest heavens, unseen by our physical eyes. Then by what means does He refine you and me? Psalm 103:19 says, "The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.” This includes all people, all events, all things—whether visible or invisible. Everything is under His sovereign authority and governance. This truth is clearly seen in the book of Jonah.

   Let us take a closer look together: in the four chapters of the book of Jonah, how many times does the word “appointed” or “prepared” appear? Jonah 1:17 says, “The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.” This shows that the Lord governs the sea. He commanded the fish to come, and it came to swallow Jonah. The Lord then commanded the fish to go, and it went to vomit Jonah onto dry land (Jonah 2:10). Next, in Jonah 4:6–7, we read: “The Lord God prepared a plant…But as morning dawned the next day, God prepared a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.” This shows that the Lord governs the land. Immediately after, verse 8 says: “God prepared a vehement east wind.” Wind belongs to the air, the heavens—thus Scripture plainly shows that the Lord also governs the sky. Sea, land, and sky are all under the Lord’s hand. This means the entire universe is under God’s sovereign authority and rule. Indeed, the Lord is in heaven, and Jonah (like you and me) is a person with flesh, with self, with corruption. Therefore, God appoints—in the sea, on the land, and in the air—various people, events, and circumstances, in many different ways, to refine us.

   
   

2. God’s Sovereign Rule Purifies Human Impurities

   We have just mentioned: How great is the scope of God’s sovereign rule? It encompasses the entire universe. And how vast is the universe? Oh! The universe includes all things. In the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus Himself said that not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will (Matt. 10:29). This means that every person, every event, every circumstance that comes upon us—whether great or small—has passed through the governance of the throne. Therefore, God uses His sovereign rule to purify the impurities within us—our pride, self‑love, concern for outward image, anger, resentment—our natural corruption. He refines all these things out of us.

   
   

   1. God prepared a worm

      When Jonah sat under the shade of the plant, satisfied and waiting to see the city’s fate from a distance, unexpectedly God appointed a worm to attack the plant so that it withered. With the plant gone and no shade to shield him, Jonah was scorched by the blazing sun until his head grew faint. This was God’s refining.

      Praise the Lord for His mercy. In order to refine you and me, He appoints people, events, and circumstances to come upon us. He may appoint strict and domineering parents, controlling you and compelling you to obey. Or He may appoint unrestrained and difficult brothers and sisters, who provoke and reject you, testing your endurance. Even for the elderly, the Lord often appoints hard-headed and unreasonable younger ones, making you helpless and not knowing how to manage them. In short, the Lord determines to appoint situations that feel painful, difficult, unpleasant, or sorrowful to come upon us. Anything that does not touch us deeply cannot be called refining. The withering of the plant was a blow to Jonah. Likewise, sometimes a person’s business fails, or they suffer unjust accusations that cause distress, pain, and exhaustion. We must understand: this is the refining hand of God, removing the corruption and impurities of our natural flesh.

      Praise the Lord! The apostle Peter tells us: “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice...” (1 Peter 4:12) May the Lord, through this word, open our eyes to see that every unusual experience that comes upon us is God’s refining. Moreover, His grace is sufficient for us. As the hymn says: “The cross He gave may be heavy, but it never outweighs His grace. If I gladly submit to His will, all things will become disguised blessings.”

      
      

   2. God's refining work - God prepared a scorching east wind

      Following this, verse 8 says: “And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself...” The worm had already destroyed the plant, leaving Jonah without any shade. Now God appointed a scorching, relentless east wind, causing Jonah to burn under the blazing heat until he became faint. This shows God’s severe refining—not only refining, but an even deeper and more intense refining.

      Jeremiah 48:11 records: “Moab has been at ease from his youth; He has settled on his dregs, And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, Nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained in him, And his scent has not changed.” “Moab,” the descendant of Lot, represents the flesh. From his youth he lived in ease—meaning he had never experienced suffering or hardship. But God says that Moab is like wine left to settle on its dregs, never poured from one vessel into another. In ancient times, there were no filters. The way to clarify wine was to pour it from one vessel into another, leaving the dregs behind. Then the wine would be poured again into yet another vessel, and again the dregs would be left behind. In this way—pouring again and again, the wine would eventually be completely purified from all its sediment.

      Why did God prepared a plant at one moment appoint, then immediately prepared a worm, and then another time prepared a scorching east wind? It was all for one purpose: to refine Jonah.

      
      

   3. God appoints people, events and situations to refine us

      Praise the Lord! If the Lord is gracious to you and me, He will sooner or later appoint a series of people, events, and situations to come upon us. His refining hand never relaxes. He is like a gardener in the vineyard, carrying pruning shears — unhesitatingly cutting, trimming, and breaking, so that the branches may be cleansed and bear abundant fruit. May the Holy Spirit grant us wisdom and the spirit of revelation, so that in the process of God’s refining we may recognize the sovereign hand of His authority, and not become resentful because of the afflictions we suffer. On the contrary, may we offer ourselves to God more completely and thoroughly. For we know that only by passing through the Lord’s personal pruning can we grow strong; only by passing through His trials and shaping can our roughness be transformed into smoothness; only by passing through His refining hands can we become pure and without impurity—becoming a truly spiritual man. Indeed, the Lord did not grow weary of refining Jonah. He repeatedly “prepared” circumstances to deal with him—and Jonah became a spiritual man.

      
      

III. The Result of Refining -- Becoming a Spiritual Man

The Lord’s ultimate intention was fulfilled! When I first read the Book of Jonah, I did not fully grasp it. Later, through the Lord’s mercy, He allowed me to see more clearly. The refining work of the Lord in Jonah not only perfected him — making him a honorable and useful vessel (bringing about the repentance of the entire city of Nineveh)—but through that refining, Jonah also became a truly spiritual man. Oh! God’s great love is truly long, deep, wide and high—so wondrous that it surpasses human understanding.

1. Freed from Self

   How do we know that Jonah has been freed from the self? After he voiced his complaint to the Lord, the Lord asked him: “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah replied, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” (Jonah 4:9) This was the last recorded sentence Jonah ever spoke in his life.

   “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” This shows that Jonah openly admits his anger and allows others to see that there is no goodness in his flesh. Although he is a prophet of the Lord, his flesh is filled with resentment and temper. He does not hide his corruption; instead, he exposes the full extent of his fleshly failure before others. In spiritual meaning, this reveals that Jonah has become a man who has broken free from himself.

   Hallelujah! Brothers and sisters, the larger a person’s “self” is, the more he tries to hide his faults and parade his virtues. But a spiritual man does not hesitate to admit his own corruption. He lets the truth be seen, so that others may know he is nothing in himself—only a sinner saved by the Lord’s grace. He keeps nothing for the sake of “self,” whether position, reputation, or personal benefit. This is true spirituality. As the hymn says:

   Have Thine own way, Lord,

   Have Thine own way;

   Hold o’er my being

   Absolute sway.

   Fill with Thy Spirit

   Till all shall see

   Christ only, always,

   Living in me.

   Jonah exposed the full reality of his flesh and humanity without concealment. This shows that he was no longer touched by human glory; he had become a man who had broken free from himself. The Lord had already brought him to the place of “Not I, but Christ, being exalted and loved. Not I, but Christ, being proclaimed and believed. Not I, but Christ, seen in speech and conduct, in thought and attitude." May the Lord also grant grace to us, so that we will not fear His deeper and sharper refining work in our lives. May we truly experience what it means to be freed from ourselves, to lose ourselves in the Lord. No longer I, but Christ living in me.

2. Leaving behind God's love

   Jonah, after exposing the ugly reality of the “self,” the failure of the flesh—his great displeasure, his anger, even his desire for death—finally chooses to end the book of Jonah with God’s immeasurable, longsuffering love. Look at the closing two verses of Jonah chapter 4: "But the Lord said, “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. 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?”

   Jonah deliberately uses God’s own words as the conclusion of the entire book. These words overflow with divine love—God’s compassion for the people of Nineveh, and even His care for the animals. This not only shows that Jonah wanted to leave the greatest message for future generations; it also reveals that a truly spiritual man ultimately leaves nothing for himself, but leaves behind only the great love of God in this world.

   What is a spiritual man? A spiritual man is one who allows the Lord—the Holy Spirit—to govern his whole being. Naturally, his conduct carries a noble character that inspires respect. Yet in the book of Jonah, we see something deeper: A spiritual Jonah does not leave people remembering how great he was, but remembering the Lord—full of compassion, grace, mercy, and slow to anger. The impression Jonah leaves is one of failure, shame, and lowliness. Only the Lord receives people’s gratitude. Only the Lord remains our everything.

   Beloved brothers and sisters, Jonah ultimately became spiritual—God had fully gained him. And throughout history, all spiritual people have walked this same path.

   David’s life is no exception. The Bible praises David as the only one called “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). This shows that David was a spiritual man, one who satisfied God deeply. What is the mark of a spiritual man? It is simply this: people see his sin and failure. Psalm 51 was written after David’s failure in indulging the flesh. It shows that he had broken free from himself. The psalm’s heading records: “After he had gone in to Bathsheba.” This exposes his corruption. On the other hand, the psalm begins with: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness.” What he leaves for others to see is God’s great love and mercy. He truly was a spiritual man.

   Today, the Lord in heaven still calls: “Whom shall I send?” Will you answer His call? Will you obey His call? All who respond and obey the Lord’s calling—the Lord not only keeps them and perfects them, but also refines them, until they become spiritual people.

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