The Lord gave His prophet Jonah an assignment which he didn't want to do, so he tried to run from the presence of God. He ended up in a very dark and lonely place. Not a way to spend your life. Has something like this ever happened to you?
After being thrown overboard from the floundering ship, the great fish swallowed Jonah. Jonah had tried to flee from the presence of the Lord, so the Lord found him a good place for that - dark, lonely, uncomfortable, scary. So, what do you do in such a place? Jonah reflects, remembers and prays. What does He learn?
After becoming a chunk of fish barf on the beach, Jonah obeyed God's second call and went to Nineveh to proclaim the message God had for him. It was, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." And an amazing thing happened. The people began to repent left and right. Even the king put on sackcloth and sat in ashes! Can you believe it? And seeing their genuine repentance, God relented of what He intended to do and did not bring destruction on them. Can you believe that? What's this all about?
After Nineveh repented, and Jonah saw that God relented of bringing disaster on the city, Jonah got angry. He went to the east of the city, made himself a little shack and waited to see if the Lord would really not destroy the city. But using a plant, a worm and a scorching east wind, God tried to teach Jonah a lesson about compassion. We hope Jonah learned the lesson. What about us?
It is quite easy to turn the Christian faith into a rule-keeping exercise. "Do this, and don't do that." Certainly there are things to do and not do, but at the center of it all stands a person - Jesus Christ. He is the reason for and the focus of the Christian faith. He is alive at the right hand of God and intercedes for us even now. And the end of the journey is to be where He is. Do you love Jesus?
