shade.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27


The original Greek word used for image is tselem, means likeness or resemblance.  I took it a step further and followed the root deeper.  Interestingly enough, tsel (the root word of the root word) means shade or to be shaded.  My mind immediately went to Jonah and the vine, and sure enough the same root word is used twice in the final passage in Jonah.


To update you on where in the story of Jonah we're at, God wanted Jonah to go, Jonah didn't, whale ate Jonah, Jonah repented, God rescued Jonah, Jonah did what God wanted, Nineveh was spared.  We're looking at after all of that.  There's more to the story.  Until now I never understood what God was talking about here.  I love it when God reveals new insight!


Anyways, after Jonah went to tell the people of Nineveh that God would destroy them and they listened to Jonah with repentant and fearful hearts (3:10), Jonah went to the top of a hill to watch Nineveh's destruction.  The story ends like this . . .


"Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city.  There he made for himself a shelter, sat in it's shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.  Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.  But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.  When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind . . . the sun blazed . . . [and] he wanted to die. . . .But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry at the vine?" "I do . . . I am angry enough to die."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. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left. . .Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

There are two times that the word shade is used in this passage, The shade that Jonah made for himself and the shade that God gave to him.  Think about it this way, 'There Jonah made for himself a shelter [life], sat in it's shade [focused on himself,] and waited to see what would happen to the city [ruin, failure, destruction, death. What Jonah originally wanted.  His desires hadn't changed to God's at all.]  Then the Lord God provided a vine [sound familiar?  Jesus, the true vine,] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade [protection, an example of who God is for us to follow] for his head to ease his discomfort [what a compassionate Savior] and Jonah was very happy about the vine."  


Notice that the shelter Jonah made obviously wasn't enough to satisfy him.  


I think we could say that God was giving Jonah just a taste of what life could be like in God's image, or under his shade and grace. He was trying to show him that the little bit of grace that Jonah was recieving reached all the way to the evil city of Nineveh.  God hit Jonah's issue right on the head by asking,"Do you have a right to be angry at the vine?" Jonah was angry at God for being so compassionate to the Ninevites. "But the Lord said, "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored." Jonah was angry that God had stopped giving him grace, yet gave it openly to others who he was sure didn't deserve it.  I think we all agree that Jonah didn't deserve it either, but who of us does?


"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23


Being created in the image of God means to be in His shade regardless of how much sin, confusion or anger is in your life.  It means being under His blessing, His protection, and His grace no matter what happens.  Even being saved from something as ridiculous as a whale's gut.  But God's a gentleman.  He won't push Himself on us against our will.  Which is exactly what happened to Jonah.


When we recognize the vines in our lives (especially including the One that holds it all together) we begin to see how much we are under God's blessing.  It's really up to us, because God's grace is offered freely forever and, "He is patient with [us], not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9


When we choose to accept His offer of grace, we're brought under the shade of His vine forever.  When we choose to recognize that we're born into a body and soul that was created in His image, when we realize that Jesus is the perfect example of what it means to be holy, "when you and I embrace surrender, when you and I choose to believe, then you and I will see who we were meant to be." -Chris Tomlin, Made To Worship