We begin this short book with God tasking Jonah to preach against the city of Ninevah. Jonah 1:1-2
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
He wasn’t asked to spread the Good News. The Good News hadn’t come yet. He was asked to preach against it…..while in the city of his enemy. So what did Jonah do?
Haha. He went the exact opposite direction. He went to Joppa, and hopped on a boat to Tarshish. A storm came upon the boat that he was aboard. It was fierce. Jonah told the sailors he was a Hebrew who was running from God, and to throw him overboard. Being seemingly decent men, they still tried to row back to shore so they wouldn’t have to kill Jonah by tossing him into wild seas. Finally, they reluctantly did just that. They threw him over board thinking they had signed his death sentence.
Many don’t believe that the book of Jonah occurred. Some believe it to be figurative in nature or just believe it to be like a parable. I believe this occurred as it is written. I believe the Biblical account is accurate. Why? I have seen God do to many amazing things to believer otherwise.
I know God is capable of the unfathomable.
Jonah having been tossed into the raging sea was near death. God sent a giant fish to swallow him and preserve him. He was in the fish for three days. God had upended Jonah’s plans for he needed Jonah to bring His message to a city which was hell bent on its own destruction. God saved Jonah. Jonah 2: 6 reads…
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.
The fish vomited Jonah onto dry land. He likely still had to walk from the eastern Mediterranean to what would be modern day Iraq. It is possible the Lord deposited Jonah close to where he actually started. Jonah was faithful to God’s second call. It took three days for Jonah to go through the entire city while saying, “Forty more days and Ninevah will be overthrown.” Then, the words of Jonah eventually reached the ears of the king. Jonah 3: 6 reads…
6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.
So many times in the Bible, we see the consequences of kings who refused to repent or even acknowledge God. There are simply too many to name. But this time, the king of Ninevah heard the message of Jonah, and consequently saved His people. His decision brought life. God relented. Jonah 3: 7-10 reads…
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
And with that, Jonah became angry. He said to God in Jonah 4: 2-3….
He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah’s legacy, in his own mind, is saving his nation’s enemies. His preaching against Ninevah brought the message that would bring them to repent of their sins and know God.
Sometimes when we think all is lost, God is just preparing us for something better. Moses fled to Midian after killing an Egypian. David had to flee to the Philistines for a time. Joseph was thrown in a well and sold into slavery….by his own brothers! Noah sat in an ark for forty days as the world he knew vanished under the waters. Jesus was placed on a cross and killed as an innocent man. In all of those things, God had better days planned.
Often the struggles and seeming defeats that we experience in life are just preparing us to deliver a more important message to a wider audience later in our story. Romans 5: 3-5 reads…
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Licensed thumbnail photo of a boat in the Port of Jaffa by RnDmS.
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