Jonah

For youth group on Friday, 9/28/07, we did an overview of the book of Jonah. Jonah is a prime example of someone given a second chance by God, like quite a few characters in the Bible.

At the beginning, Jonah, is commanded by the Lord to go to Nineveh and preach against it. Instead , Jonah ran away towards Tarshish, to the west. Nineveh is approximately 500 miles northeast of Israel. As you can see, Jonah does not follow directions very well. Jonah ends up on a ship amidst a violent storm. Everyone is freaking out except for Jonah, who is able to fall into a deep sleep for some reason. The sailors end up casting lots to find out who is guilty. Lo and behold, it falls on Jonah! Jonah jumps ship, ends up in the middle of a big fish for 3 days, and finally makes it to Nineveh. He preaches and the whole country ends up repenting. And Jonah gets angry by that! That's the basic layout of Jonah. Now into some of the main points and details.

Why didn't Jonah rejoice over the repenting of Nineveh? First, it seems strange that a whole city of over 100,000 would do that, with the full support and decree of the king. Yet that is what happens, and it is legit. Chapter 4 is where Jonah expresses his anger over this. Why? It is jealousy, or something like it. Jonah, along with a whole lot of other Jews, believed God's message of salvation was just for them. Sharing it with a pagan nation was not what Jonah had in mind, yet that's what God called him to do. That's what God called Isreal to do- that is, bless the rest of the world.

Take Jonah's attitude and compare it to the sailors in the boat, who were pagan. The sailors in the boat did not follow the Lord God, yet they seemed to have more compassion for Jonah than Jonah had for the Ninevites (1:4-17). They didn't want to throw him overboard. They tried to row back to shore. As a last resort, they threw Jonah overboard, and the sea immediately grew calm. So through Jonah's disobedience, the Lord used it let sailors come to know Him.

In the big fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord (Ch. 2). This is a prayer of thanksgiving for not drowning. Let's not forget that Jonah is inside a fish! Despite his circumstances, he seems very calm during the prayer. He is certainly in no position to bargain with God. As in, "well if you save me from the fish, I'll preach to Nineveh." But seeing that God delivered Him from the storm, Jonah thanks the Lord and has faith that He will save him from the fish and vows to do what he promised to God.

Do you feel like you have messed up and therefore, God doesn't want to use you anymore? Be assured that way of thinking is wrong. God gives us, like Jonah, second chances.