As one devotional writer says, ‘a taste of the consequences of sin is designed as a kind of strong medicine. God often gets the attention of strong willed, self-centered people by letting their choices go sour.’ God certainly got Jonah’s attention when he was tossed into the sea. He thought his life would end, but he found out that God was not going to let him end it all so quickly. He was trapped in the belly of a fish, unable to run away anymore and unable to engage in any escapist behavior. I imagine even sleep was impossible in the queasy belly of the great fish. Thus he had time to come to his senses and to pray.
His prayer reveals that he recognized that he had come to the end of his rope. He finally became willing to submit to God’s authority “when my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, oh Lord, and my prayer rose to you”. He saw that only God could help him “from the depths of the grave, I called for help and you listened to my cry”. And when he was saved from death, he appreciated the grace that God had made available to him “those who cling to idols (or those with other things they trust in the place of trusting God), forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Clearly there was immense relief in discovering that that God had not discarded him. At the end he even sings a song of thanksgiving and looks forward to the day he will go to the temple of the Lord to make a sacrifice.
In this devotional study of the book of Jonah, I’m encouraging us to keep thinking about the lives, destiny and fates of those in our social networks that are living lives far from God. We have seen that many that are clearly taking a path of self-deception. They know about the Lord but do not know him personally.They get to the place where they cannot get themselves out of the mess they are in. Like Jonah, they keep making choices that lead them further and further away from the Lord; eventually they are headed to hell on earth and upon death they will end up in eternal hell. I pray as we meditate on Jonah’s story we shall be able to think of them with compassion so that we can pray for them. Today's reading shows us that it is not over until God says it is over. If we have that hope, then we will be energised to do anything and everything we can to help them find salvation in Christ
The cost of running away is from God is great. Jonah paid money to get into a ship to run away from God, but God provided him with a free ride, you could call it an all expenses paid ticket back to the right place. God offers a free ticket to a relationship with him. All it takes is for someone who knows God to help the lost person realize that God is offering a free gift, and a life will be restored. He does not wait until people get their act together. He demonstrates his love in that ‘while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”, Roman 5:8, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16.
His prayer reveals that he recognized that he had come to the end of his rope. He finally became willing to submit to God’s authority “when my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, oh Lord, and my prayer rose to you”. He saw that only God could help him “from the depths of the grave, I called for help and you listened to my cry”. And when he was saved from death, he appreciated the grace that God had made available to him “those who cling to idols (or those with other things they trust in the place of trusting God), forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Clearly there was immense relief in discovering that that God had not discarded him. At the end he even sings a song of thanksgiving and looks forward to the day he will go to the temple of the Lord to make a sacrifice.
In this devotional study of the book of Jonah, I’m encouraging us to keep thinking about the lives, destiny and fates of those in our social networks that are living lives far from God. We have seen that many that are clearly taking a path of self-deception. They know about the Lord but do not know him personally.They get to the place where they cannot get themselves out of the mess they are in. Like Jonah, they keep making choices that lead them further and further away from the Lord; eventually they are headed to hell on earth and upon death they will end up in eternal hell. I pray as we meditate on Jonah’s story we shall be able to think of them with compassion so that we can pray for them. Today's reading shows us that it is not over until God says it is over. If we have that hope, then we will be energised to do anything and everything we can to help them find salvation in Christ
The cost of running away is from God is great. Jonah paid money to get into a ship to run away from God, but God provided him with a free ride, you could call it an all expenses paid ticket back to the right place. God offers a free ticket to a relationship with him. All it takes is for someone who knows God to help the lost person realize that God is offering a free gift, and a life will be restored. He does not wait until people get their act together. He demonstrates his love in that ‘while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”, Roman 5:8, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16.
Who around you needs to come to their senses like Jonah or the prodigal son? What are you doing about it?
Please share your thoughts with others on this post.
Thank you for an interpretation of the book of Jonah. I am interested in the nature of the anger of Jonah at the end of the book. If the Ninevites did repent promptly in answer to Jonah's preaching, then he would have been very happy and proud of himself for he spared God 39 or 38 days, whether he liked the result or not, But I suppose the reality was that he had to use up the 40 days to finally persuade the citizens to repentence. So, I think he gradually lost patience and finally got angry at the citizens for they were not cooperative but repented almost at the end of the 40-day's allowance, as if (he felt) they as well as God had known what they were doing to fool him. I wrote a novel about Jonah. Hope you will give a look at it. http://p.booklog.jp/book/72551/read
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