I think Jonah gets a bad rap among Christians. We think… Why did he run? What was he thinking? Here’s the thing… we would have probably done the same thing. Why is that? Because what God was asking Jonah to do was VERY scary. At the time of Jonah, Ninevah was a key city in the Assyrian Empire. Assyrians were like the terrorists in our current day. They attacked unprovoked and were brutal and ruthless. They were also pagan. So, there may have been two things going on in Jonah’s mind… 1) intense fear; and 2) questioning God. Why would they even listen to a little prophet from Israel? And why would you even WANT to save them, Lord? With that said, let’s examine four principles we can gain from Jonah’s story:
God may ask the impossible! But what’s impossible for us is ALWAYS possible for God. God knew that with His help, Jonah could do it. Right now, God may be speaking to you… asking you to do something that’s scary, difficult, or uncomfortable. You’re looking at it through human eyes, but God’s looking at it through divine eyes. He knows you can do it. He has singled you out. He knows you will need His help. All He asks is that you say YES, LORD! You don’t know how. You don’t know why. But if you trust God in it, then He will bring the possible out of the impossible.
You cannot run from God! Jonah thought he could get away from God. Maybe if he went far away, God would lose sight of him… forget about him. But that didn’t happen. God is omnipresent, which means that He is EVERYWHERE. God is omniscient, which means that He knows EVERYTHING. God is omnipotent, which means that He is ALL POWERFUL. In fact, God called Jonah to go to the Ninevah. Not his brothers, his friends, or another great prophet. No, God chose Jonah. Therefore, he could never run from God. Neither can we. He will find us.
Disobedience affects everyone! In Jonah’s story, there were other people on the boat. The storm the Lord brought affected everyone on board, not just Jonah. His disobedience almost cost everyone their lives. Our disobedience affects everyone in our life… our family, our friends, our community, the body of Christ. When we are disobedient to God, we can never be content or full of joy. In fact, the opposite happens. We become unsettled, moody, and out of sorts. And we know that these things surely impact those around us, right?
God always wins! God won in Jonah’s case. But it wasn’t comfortable. He was hurled into the sea, and a big fish swallowed him. Imagine being in the belly of a fish for three whole days. This surely brought Jonah face-to-face with the God he had tried to get away from. He would have probably been spared these awful things if he had obeyed in the first place. If God is speaking to you about something… He will win. He will get your attention one way or another. It’s better if we just surrender in the first place. Obedience is the best answer.
Let Jonah’s story encourage you today. Let Jonah’s story spur you on to obedience.