Jonah was a prophet living near Nazareth when God called him to do something completely crazy in Jonah's mind. God wanted Jonah to go to the pagan city of Nineveh. This was a large city in the Assyrian Empire and a sworn enemy of Israel. Not only that but Nineveh had a reputation for cruel and unusual punishment of their enemies. Their use of a torture was infamous and I can assure you that Jonah wanted no part of what might lie ahead of him in Nineveh.
When Jonah gets the call from God to go to Nineveh he runs away and tries to hide. A little geography lesson but Nineveh was 500 miles to the east of Israel but Jonah intended to get as far away as he could by running to Tarshish, 2,000 miles to the west. Jonah thought that if he was 2,000 miles away, as far as you could travel from his country at the time, that God might send someone else or forget about this crazy idea all together. If you wanted to relate it to our time it would be like being told to go to Iran and then heading to Tahiti.
So Jonah pays his passage and boards a ship headed out to Tarshish. In no time, a huge storm blows up and rages with such intensity that the sailors start praying to what ever "god" they could think of. And where is Jonah? That fool is down in the bottom of the ship taking a nap. He is completely unaware of the chaos that is falling down around him. I have found that in my own abandonment of God's call on my life I often become complacent and lose sight for the lost around me. What I find interesting is that it is the unbeliever that calls Jonah to pray to God to save them.
Jonah realizes that the storm that they are facing is due to his own disobedience to God and he tells the men of the ship to throw him overboard and they would be saved through his sacrifice. What Jonah thought would lead to his death was just a step towards getting Jonah where God intended him to be in the first place. And what did God send to save Jonah? A life preserver? A life boat? God had Jonah swallowed up by a huge fish. It was in this dark place that God placed Jonah that he has intimate alone time with God. Much similar to us, it is in our darkest hours that we will find our sweetest and most powerful moments with God.
We don't know how many hours or days that Jonah spent in the belly of that fish but when it vomits him onto dry land Jonah heads straight to Nineveh. You might think that he would face major opposition there but amazingly the whole city repents and calls out to God when Jonah delivers the message of judgement that God sent him to deliver. Even their king sought out God's forgiveness. A fast was called for and as a result of their complete turn, God spares the city from destruction.
And what did Jonah think about all this? He was pissed off. He was so mad that he went outside the city to pout and whine to God. He was so angry that the people of Nineveh were spared that he says he would rather just die right then and there. Why would he feel that way you ask? Mainly because he was an Israelite and those people were his sworn enemies. His national pride meant more to him in that moment than the fact that there were thousands of souls saved and lives changed. His hatred completely clouded his judgement. God again teaches Jonah a lesson through the provision and taking away of a plant that was shading him. How could Jonah question God after all he had been through and after he had seen all God had done? How can he question God when it is God who provides in the first place?
What can you and I learn from Jonah's story?
We can learn to walk in obedience to what God is calling us to do. Don't hesitate or run in the opposite direction until God has to knock you down to turn you around. Learn from the mistakes and example Jonah set. My friend, delayed obedience is still disobedience and who knows what that divergence could cause. If God is calling you to move and you find yourself afraid or too proud to see what He might do, repent and move forward in His plan with courage that He will make a way.
When Jonah gets the call from God to go to Nineveh he runs away and tries to hide. A little geography lesson but Nineveh was 500 miles to the east of Israel but Jonah intended to get as far away as he could by running to Tarshish, 2,000 miles to the west. Jonah thought that if he was 2,000 miles away, as far as you could travel from his country at the time, that God might send someone else or forget about this crazy idea all together. If you wanted to relate it to our time it would be like being told to go to Iran and then heading to Tahiti.
So Jonah pays his passage and boards a ship headed out to Tarshish. In no time, a huge storm blows up and rages with such intensity that the sailors start praying to what ever "god" they could think of. And where is Jonah? That fool is down in the bottom of the ship taking a nap. He is completely unaware of the chaos that is falling down around him. I have found that in my own abandonment of God's call on my life I often become complacent and lose sight for the lost around me. What I find interesting is that it is the unbeliever that calls Jonah to pray to God to save them.
Jonah realizes that the storm that they are facing is due to his own disobedience to God and he tells the men of the ship to throw him overboard and they would be saved through his sacrifice. What Jonah thought would lead to his death was just a step towards getting Jonah where God intended him to be in the first place. And what did God send to save Jonah? A life preserver? A life boat? God had Jonah swallowed up by a huge fish. It was in this dark place that God placed Jonah that he has intimate alone time with God. Much similar to us, it is in our darkest hours that we will find our sweetest and most powerful moments with God.
We don't know how many hours or days that Jonah spent in the belly of that fish but when it vomits him onto dry land Jonah heads straight to Nineveh. You might think that he would face major opposition there but amazingly the whole city repents and calls out to God when Jonah delivers the message of judgement that God sent him to deliver. Even their king sought out God's forgiveness. A fast was called for and as a result of their complete turn, God spares the city from destruction.
And what did Jonah think about all this? He was pissed off. He was so mad that he went outside the city to pout and whine to God. He was so angry that the people of Nineveh were spared that he says he would rather just die right then and there. Why would he feel that way you ask? Mainly because he was an Israelite and those people were his sworn enemies. His national pride meant more to him in that moment than the fact that there were thousands of souls saved and lives changed. His hatred completely clouded his judgement. God again teaches Jonah a lesson through the provision and taking away of a plant that was shading him. How could Jonah question God after all he had been through and after he had seen all God had done? How can he question God when it is God who provides in the first place?
What can you and I learn from Jonah's story?
We can learn to walk in obedience to what God is calling us to do. Don't hesitate or run in the opposite direction until God has to knock you down to turn you around. Learn from the mistakes and example Jonah set. My friend, delayed obedience is still disobedience and who knows what that divergence could cause. If God is calling you to move and you find yourself afraid or too proud to see what He might do, repent and move forward in His plan with courage that He will make a way.
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