Constipated in the Spirit: When God Prescribes Castor Oil

I saw a meme on Facebook (imagine that! LOL), it was about Jonah, of Jonah and the whale (though it was really a fish), when he was angry about having to let Nineveh know that they were about to be judged, Jonah didn't want them to be saved, so afterward he sat down, angry, full of bitterness. God caused a plant to grow to give him shade, I had always read it was a gourd, but it turns out it was apparently a castor bean plant. Well, that preaches, he was spiritually constipated so God gave him a castor bean plant to shade him and give him comfort. This is a sermon y'all!

“Constipated in the Spirit: When God Prescribes Castor Oil”

Text: Jonah 4:6
"ADONAI, God, prepared a castor-bean plant and made it grow up over Jonah to shade his head and relieve his discomfort. So Jonah was delighted with the castor-bean plant."

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Introduction

Today, I want to talk about a kind of constipation you won’t find in the body, but in the mind and spirit. You can be spiritually blocked, emotionally stuck, and mentally bound up by pride, anger, unforgiveness, and disobedience. And in Jonah’s case, that’s exactly what was going on.

God had called him to go to Nineveh, but Jonah didn’t want to go. Why? Because he didn’t want those people saved. He wanted judgment. He wanted fire from heaven. He was spiritually constipated, backed up with bitterness and self-righteousness.

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Point 1: Jonah Had a Heart Full of Toxic Waste

Jonah had just come from being saved out of the belly of a fish. You’d think that experience would humble him. But no. He preached to Nineveh and then sat outside the city, waiting and hoping it would be destroyed.

He didn’t want grace extended to them.

Let’s call that what it is: a spiritual backup. Jonah was full of himself, full of judgment, full of anger, and when you're full of those things, you don’t leave room for God's mercy to move through you.

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Point 2: God Grew a Castor Bean Plant to Cover Him

Jonah 4:6 says that God grew a castor bean plant over Jonah to shade his head and relieve his discomfort.

Now, if you know anything about castor oil, you know it’s a natural purgative. It clears you out. It's used to get things moving. And spiritually speaking, God was doing the same thing with Jonah. God said, “Let me put a covering over you, not just to shade your head but to work on your heart.”

That plant was mercy.
That shade was comfort.
That growth was a holy prescription for a constipated prophet.

God didn’t scold him, He soothed him first.
But He was about to stir his insides.

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Point 3: What We Delight In, God Can Use to Teach Us

Jonah delighted in that plant. Why? Because it served him. It made him feel better. It relieved his external discomfort.

But God wasn’t done. The very next verse says God sent a worm to destroy the plant. And Jonah was angry again.

God asked him, “Do you have a right to be angry about the plant?”

God was exposing the inner blockage, the fact that Jonah had compassion for a plant, but not for people. He loved the thing that served him, but didn’t love the people God wanted to save.

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Closing: Let God Clean You Out

Sometimes God lets you sit under shade before He brings the heat.

The castor bean plant wasn’t just for comfort. It was a picture of mercy. And like castor oil itself, it was a tool for healing, a symbol of cleansing. God was trying to clear out Jonah’s spiritual constipation, his resistance to grace, his pride, his judgment, his hate.

So what about you?

• Are you holding on to unforgiveness?

• Are you resisting God’s call because you don’t think certain people “deserve” mercy?

• Are you full of yourself when God’s trying to fill you with compassion?

Let Him grow a castor bean plant over you. Let Him shade you, soothe you, and then stir you.

Because healing isn’t always gentle, it sometimes comes with a purge.

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Final Word:

The same God who made the castor bean plant grow,
Is the God who can break up the hardened places in your heart,
Clear out what’s backing you up,
And set you free to love the people He’s calling you to reach.

To God be the glory!

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Wretha,

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