plan. While Jonah eventually did what he was asked to do, the book closes with showing Jonah as a bitter man.
God Calls — Jonah Disobeys
Jonah received a calling from the Lord to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. Instead of obeying
and going straight to Nineveh, he went to Joppa to board a ship to the city of Tarshish. Nineveh was inland from where Jonah lived and Tarshish was across the sea.
Disobedience hurts others too
His disobedience brought punishment upon himself and
others around him. After he boarded the ship to Tarshish there was a great storm. During the storm the men working on the ship began calling upon their gods.and idols to deliver them from whatever punishment was being given. The workers found Jonah in the bottom of the ship asleep. They awakened him and asked him to pray to his God to protect them. The men cast lots to see who had brought this punishment upon them (even though Jonah knew it was his fault). The lot fell upon Jonah.
He confessed that he was a Hebrew and was running away from the Creator God. Jonah asked the men to throw him overboard. Instead they tried harder to bring the ship to land. Jonah finally convinced them that he was the one who had brought judgment from God. Perhaps Jonah thought that if he were dead then God would stop punishing the ones around him. The sailors agreed to throw him into the sea. As soon as Jonah was tossed into the water the storm broke and everything was calm. The sailors probably had no idea what happened next.
Jonah’s trial from God
Jonah went into the water, but not to be killed by
drowning. Instead he was swallowed by a great fish
(Jesus called it a whale in Matthew 12:40). He was in the whale’s belly for 3 days and 3 nights.
Jonah awoke in the belly of the fish and cried out to God. He confessed his disobedience and told God that he would accomplish the task that the Lord had called him to. God then instructed the whale to vomit Jonah out onto dry ground.
Jonah lacks appreciation for God’s mercy
After finding himself alive and on dry land, Jonah ran to the city of Nineveh. To his amazement, and apparent
disappointment, the people of Nineveh did repent and asked for the Lord’s salvation. God knew that they needed a preacher to show them the error of their wickedness, but Jonah knew that God was merciful and would forgive them if they asked.
Even though Jonah preached to the people, he was nothappy.
He climbed to the top of a mountain to watch the Lord destroy the city. Because of their repentance God did not destroy them. Jonah complained again. To help
teach Jonah a lesson, God caused a gourd to grow and
to protect Jonah from the sun.A short time later God killed the gourd and Jonah became angry.
Finally, God had Jonah’s attention. God showed Jonah the foolishness of the fact that he was more concerned for
the gourd than he was for the people. The gourd, which
had no soul, received more attention from the prophet
Jonah than thousands of people who were destined to
eternal punishment.
BY DAVID PEACH
No comments:
Post a Comment
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the comment writers alone and does not surface or represent the views of Thomasloaded.