This was the first of my deep dives into the Bible entitled "In Hot Pursuit" and its all about Jonah and the whale. I know you all remember this story from Sunday school at church as a kid. As an adult on my walk with God I have been able to read more into this story and one thing I realized is that Jonah was not a good person he was very much like a lot of us. He wanted to do what he wanted to do. Check it out for yourself and lets talk about it.
God is chasing you, but you keep running. Are you tired yet? Tired of doing things your way only for your
way to fail miserably.
When God is in hot pursuit, resistance is futile. You are only blocking your own growth, development
and blessings.
Ask Jonah, The Bible says Jonah was tasked by God to go to Ninevah and preach a word of repentance
and mercy to them as their wickedness has caused God’s judgement to come upon them. Being that
Ninevah belonged to the Assyrians who were dreaded and despised enemies of Israel, Jonah being a
devout Israelite left and went in the total opposite direction than Ninevah.
In Jonah 1:3 it says Jonah intentionally “ran away from the Lord”. He went to Joppa, found a ship headed
to Tarshish as far in the opposite direction of where God told him to go, paid his fare and left.
How many times have you intentionally gone to great lengths to do everything, but what you know God
is leading you to do? I can say I have done it more than I would like to admit. In fact, I did everything but
write when I knew I was called to spread Gods word through writing so I can relate to Jonah in that
sense.
According to Jonah 1:3 in the NKJV it says Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
To flee means to escape by running away, especially because of danger or fear! We know Jonah was not
in danger of the Lord but he was afraid of the task he was given, the call made to him by God.
While Jonah was on the ship the Lord sent a great wind to the sea. A storm so violent it threatened to
break the ship into pieces. All because God was in hot pursuit of Jonah.
The sailors on this ship were all scared for their lives, and each called out to their own Gods to no avail.
Jonah was so unbothered by it all that he was below deck sleep! Not just regular sleep, not napping but
as it says in 1:5 (NIV) he fell into a “deep sleep”.
The captain of the ship says to Jonah How can you sleep when there’s a hurricane happening around us?
Get up and pray to your God maybe yours will take notice and not let us die.
Little did they know Jonah's God caused the storm because of Jonah's disobedience. This lets us know
that our disobedience in doing what God called us to do doesn’t just affect our lives, but it can impact
others.
The sailors then decided to cast lots to see who was responsible for the storm. The lots landed on Jonah
and all the sailors started questioning Jonah, asking him what he does for work, where is he from,
what’s his lineage and heritage. Jonahs, replied probably with a sigh and said, I am Hebrew and I
worship the LORD the God of heaven who made the sea and dry land.
The sailors were now terrified as the storm got worse and they asked what they should do and Jonah
said just throw me in, I know it’s my fault this is happening and once you throw me into the sea it will be
calm. But because they feared judgement for potentially killing him if he drowned, they tried to row
back to land but the water got even choppier. Now knowing they must throw him in they asked God to
not let them die for taking his life as they believed Jonah would drown.
Reluctantly they threw him overboard and the sea calmed. When they saw that they were amazed by
the LORDs power and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to serve him. They became
believers!
Jonah then got swallowed by the whale and was within it for 3 days and 3 nights. Scripture says in 1:17
the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow him. Even when we run God has already gone before
us and knows our next move even before we do. The Lord prepared the great fish as part of his plan
because he knew Jonah would run.
While in the belly of the beast, Jonah cried out to God with praise, thanksgiving and repentance. He
vowed to carry out the task he was instructed to fulfill and with that God gave him a second chance and
had the great fish spit him out onto dry land.
Now on dry land, the LORD spoke to Jonah again to go to Ninevah and deliver the message. Jonah made
the journey and it took him 3 days to walk through the entire city as he screamed 40 days from now
Ninevah will be destroyed. The people believed him and fasted, even the king fasted and made a decree
that the whole city shall fast, even the animals couldn’t eat or drink anything. The king said everyone
must turn from their evil ways, stop the violence and pray sincerely to God. Maybe then God will change
his mind and spare them.
Which is exactly what God did, he saw what they did, the great lengths they went through to heed
Jonah's warning and God spared them all.
Jonah was furious, he said this is why I didn’t want to come here because you did exactly what I thought
you would and spared them. You’re so compassionate, gracious and loving that when sinners turn to
you in repentance you forgive them and spare their lives. God then questioned him by saying Do you
have a good reason to be angry?
Jonah was so upset that God showed them mercy that he wished he was dead. The audacity of Jonah to
think that the same God who had compassion for him and gave him a second chance when he didn’t
deserve it shouldn’t have given thousands of people and animals a second chance when they truly didn’t
know any better.
Jonah then leaves the city and sets up a shelter outside of it to see what would happen as if God would
change his mind and destroy them even after they repented. By it being so very hot, God arranged for a
shade tree to grow and cover Jonah from the sun to which Jonah was grateful. But the next morning
God arranged for it to be eaten and then sent a harsh wind and sun to Jonah who then wished he was
dead again.
God then said you were happy and grateful when I made the tree for you and when I arranged to have
what you did not labor to grow or even deserve to die, something that came up overnight you get upset!
God said to Jonah, Should I not spare Ninevah and the over 100k people and animals? They did not even
know any better.
And just like that, the book of Jonah ended. There were many lessons to be learned in this short book.
1. Obedience, in doing what God has tasked us to do
2. Not judging others and thinking Gods ways are our ways.
3. Having forgiveness, grace and mercy for our enemies as God does for all.
Jonah did not appear to be a good guy. He put the lives of the sailors in jeopardy because of his
disobedience, he judged the Ninevites, got mad at God, and wished he was dead.
I love that the book was left with an open-ended question on which the reader is left to think and
reflect.
Don’t be like Jonah, your obedience is connected to someone else’s breakthrough.
