Reading: Jonah 1-2
The book of Jonah begins with God telling Jonah to ‘Go to Nineveh and preach against it, because (of) its wickedness’. He was to call Nineveh to her knees in repentance, to avoid Gods wrath.
It’s rather like the mission we are given in the great commission: tell people about the coming Kingdom, for their own good.
So, what can we learn from this short book?
Jonah was one of God’s prophets during the period of the divided kingdom. Born near Nazareth, Jonah, son of the prophet Amittai, was in ministry from 800-750 BC. At this time, Israel was on the up, increasing in territory and wealth and subsequently, Jonah enjoyed great popularity for he had the easy task of sharing all this good news before it happened!
He was a local hero to the people of Nazareth, and Jesus would have probably been taught about him as a little boy. Of all the prophets it was Jonah that Jesus compared himself to and we can see many similarities including being in the belly of a huge fish for three days and three nights and then coming back into the world to preach the good news. (See Matthew 12.40)
Do we know what God is calling us to do? Do we know our personal, God given mission? Perhaps ask God to remind you today.
It’s all going so well for Jonah but then in verse 3 we read how ‘Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish’ (towards the sea). Jonah knew who God was and knew his purpose, yet still decided that he didn’t really fancy it! Why?
When put to the test of carrying out a difficult and unpopular task, the true spiritual state of his heart was revealed.
What is the state of our hearts towards Gods plan for our lives?
The book of Jonah shows us how badly God wants people to hear and accept his message of salvation. Can we relate to Jonah here? He seemed to revel in preaching only a positive message of peace and prosperity and avoided the negative and generally not well received message of God’s judgment of sin.
- Is there anything similar stopping us from fulfilling all of Gods plan for us?
- What do we have in place to make sure we keep to all of God’s call for our lives and not just pick the best bits?
For me, in times of fear or apathy I remember afresh several words that God has given me about my own mission, which help me to stay focussed on the task at hand.
