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“1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” This passage of scripture shows God’s amazing love He has to His wayward people. It seemed at first that Jonah did everything he could to resist God’s calling the first time around, after Jonah repented God called him again. God chose to do this out of his grace and mercy.
It is very interesting that God in verse 2 tells Jonah to preach the message that I tell you. Suggesting that Jonah does not know what he will be delivering to the people of Nineveh. God simply tells Jonah to go and wait for instructions. It’s funny for I see God working like that a lot in my own life and my flesh often times finds it very irritating that He does.
The story of Jonah demonstrates why God so often leads us one step at a time. Because when God told Jonah the first time in chapter 1:1 what to say, Jonah discarded the call. So often times God only will tell us what He thinks we can handle at that time. Then in verse 3 Jonah realizes that resisting God is useless and can get you into a lot of trouble. Thus Jonah goes to Nineveh, obeying God’s call.
Then in verses 5-9 we do not see the actual word repentance being used, but we can see through the passage that is what they did in their fasting and wearing sackcloth. Repentance starts with believing God. And repentance is turning away from your evil ways, which is what the people were doing. These people were so serious about their repentance that they even made their animals fast.
Then finally in verse 10 we see that God honored their repentance, even though their sin was reason enough for harsh judgment. The people in their repentance appealed to God’s mercy and grace and not his judgment. I am so thankful that God acts more on his mercy and grace than He does on his judgment. For where would any of us be if it where not for is mercy and grace.
In Jonah 1:17, we see Jonah is swallowed by a large fish, it does not say a whale – but a fish. I think this is very import to note for a couple of reasons. One being when I think of a whale, I think of a large stomach with lots of room inside to move around. A fish on the other hand, from the pictures I have seen, even the large fish have a small stomach in comparison to a whale. So to be in the belly of a fish must have been extremely tight and uncomfortable. I can only imagine the scene that Jonah lays out for us in chapter 2, where the seaweed is wrapped around his head. Imagine also the stench inside the fish’s stomach, with all the other dead and decaying things the fish has eaten, mixed with the fish’s stomach acids. The stench alone would make one cry out to the Lord for help. Then to make it even worse not being able to move around, lying prostrate on your back, not able to move your hands or feet. Being in total darkness and feeling every jolt and move of the fish had to be a horrifying experience. Jonah must have truly thought he was going to die in the belly of a fish.
God is giving Jonah here a HUGE wake up call in his disobedience. Like Jonah we got to understand that God responds to disobedience by making conditions oppose us. God knows what will grab our attention, what will cause a change in our hearts and behavior. Jonah must have been one stubborn man if it took this to make him realize the sin he committed in his disobedience. Then I think of the times that I can be stubborn and realize that it would take a real attention grabber to make me change my actions as well.
It just goes to show that God will go at whatever the cost to grab our attention, when we veer of the course that He has set for our lives. To me this shows that God loves us so much that nothing but his pure and holly plan is what we deserve, not the leading of our own frail and limited mind’s plans.
To really grasp the agony of Jonah read chapter 2 in the Message or New Living Translation Bible. These two versions really capture Jonah crying out to the Lord. You can go to Biblegateway.com to find these two and many more.
Before I begin let me start off with why I chose to do a Bible Study on the book of Jonah. Jonah is a very interesting man, who in many aspects is a lot like the average Christian today. Jonah knows the will of God for his life, but like many of us, he chooses not to embrace the calling. Maybe out of fear of the people (in Nineveh), maybe his heart is not in it yet (not wanting to see the people of Nineveh saved), or maybe he’s the type of person that needs an object lesson from God to get his attention.
Jonah’s story has much to say about the love God has for all people. God desires to show His mercy and offer forgiveness to anyone and everyone. Although sadly when we, the church, have the attitude of exclusiveness, like Jonah had towards the Ninevehits – we fail to accomplish God’s great commission (Matt. 28:18-20). But, when we, the church, take seriously the command of God to go to all nations of the world, those people who hear the Gospel and respond experience the mercy and love of God in a life-changing way. It has been said that Jonah is the missionary book of the Old Testament.
Chapter 1
Verses 1-3 we see that the Lord is speaking to Jonah to go to Nineveh on the Lord’s behalf. But like many of us, Jonah gets scared and maybe a little mad that the Lord would call him to talk to such wicked people. So Jonah does what many of us do best in times like these, he runs trying to hide from God. But where on earth can we hide from the God that made the very heavens and the earth? Instead we, like Jonah, should have promptly done what God tells us to do. Remembering that if we don’t, our stubbornness may very well cause trouble for us later on.
Then in verses 4-15 we see the trouble that Jonah got into for disobeying God. He gets thrown into the sea, just punishment from a just God. Being the righteous and just God that He is, it would be wrong of Him, if he allowed the sin or disobedience in our lives go unchecked. Since sin cannot stand in the presence of God’s holiness, we need to realize that any prayers we may offer up to Him are in vain and useless – until we confess of our sin and disobedience. The confession removes the sin, thus removing the spiritual barrier we had with God.
Knowing that we cannot hide from God, lets own up to our wrong behavior. Then move on with God’s plan for our lives.
