When Jonah Ran From God
PursueGOD Video
The story of Jonah reveals so much about the character of God. We learn about the great extent of God’s mercy and forgiveness – not only toward Jonah, but also toward the Assyrian Empire. We see His justice and righteousness as he sends Jonah to a people to tell them to repent because their wickedness has come up before him. We see God’s authority and power as he creates the storm that eventually causes Jonah to get cast into the sea. And we see his sovereignty as he accomplishes his purposes, even if he has to use a reluctant prophet to do it.
The First Message
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God’s calling to Jonah to go and preach a message of repentance in Nineveh wasn’t his first mission. Jonah lived in a time when the nation of Israel had been split into two kingdoms; the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Jonah lived in the north. The northern kingdom had been led by thirteen consecutive kings that did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and as a result of their consistent disobedience, they were suffering. God had every right to punish them, but he saw their suffering and was merciful. This is where Jonah first appears in the Bible.
What a great calling! God told Jonah to go and tell the northern kingdom of Israel that they would regain territories that had previously been lost to military conquest. Who wouldn’t want to be the bearer of this good news to Israel? This assignment surely made Jonah one of the most popular people in the kingdom.
Like Jonah, sometimes we love God’s messaging. After all, the Bible is good news, filled with great and precious promises! But a pursuit of God doesn’t always serve up the message we want to hear. Sometimes God calls us out of our comfort zones.
The Second Message
Jonah’s next calling from God was a different matter altogether. This time God wasn’t calling him to give another message to the Israelites – but instead to a pagan, Gentile city. (JOnha 1:1-2)
This time Jonah was called to be the bearer of bad news.
