Even in disobedience, God is gracious

Jonah 1:1-3  NIV Jonah 1:1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:  2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."  3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

 

Jonah received divine instruction: God to the city of Nineveh.

Nineveh was a principle city of Assyria the greatest enemy of Israel

 

Jonah’s divine design was actually reflected in the meaning of his name: “Dove”. God has created and designed him to be a messenger of grace.

 

God’s choice of Jonah is also a reflection of divine sovereignty - cf.  1 Corinthians 9:16-17 16 Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!  17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.

 

Why did Jonah run away? I would like to propose three reasons:

Theology: God is compassionate; therefore He would spare the Assyrians if they repented. Cf. Jonah 4: 2.

Nationalism: If the Assyrians repented, God would forgive them and they would attack and destroy the nation of Israel. He had previously prophesied that Israel would defeat Assyria…which actually happened in 2 Kings 14:23-27. He perhaps feared that if the Assyrians were saved they would attack and defeat Israel again.

Personal: Loss of face incase his words – about God’s punishment did not come to pass.

 

But core of Jonah’s problem was self-centeredness other that being God-centered. Whenever we approach life from our own perspective other than God’s we are bound to being frustrated.

 

There is always the fear that we encounter, whenever we are faced with obeying God’s will. It could be fear of leaving our comfort zones: friends, family, job security, routines; the list is endless.

 

God’s Perspective:

Nineveh – a pagan city but under His control. Yahweh was not a territorial or even a national God. He is the God of the whole universe. Our human problem is that we tend to localize God and his activities. But God is gracious and sovereign: he has mercy on whom he has mercy. We don’t tell God what to do; it is him who tells us what to do.

 

God is gracious: He provided a fish. He is a God of second chance. It was not only a “sign”, as John refers to miracles of Jesus> to Jonah but to the nation of Israel and Nineveh as well. God is a God of second chance. He always provides us ways to reflect on our failures and come back to him.

 

Purpose of the storm: Learning aid. Kind of a visual aid that God used to teach Jonah – have concern for the sailors – and the people of Nineveh.

 

God speaks: - sometimes in quiet whispers, at other times through storms. Either way he wants us to obey.

 

You would..