The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. (vv.1-3a)
The book of Jonah looks at the prophet whose job it was to carry the truth of God to a people who needed to hear it. But when God told him to go to the Ninevites, Israel’s cruel enemies, Jonah didn’t want to do it. So he basically said no to God and bought a ticket to go to Tarshish in the opposite direction (vv.1-3).
Unlike the children’s tale the book of Jonah is sometimes made out to be, it’s not about a fish, for the great fish is mentioned only four times. Jonah himself is only named eighteen times, but the Lord God is mentioned thirty-seven times! The book is about God and how he deals with people who want their own way and therefore refuse to obey his will. Surely Jonah knew that he could not run away from God. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Ps. 139:7). And, as we know, he was unsuccessful, for God called upon a great fish to turn him around.
Only a gracious God such as the One we worship can take a stubborn, disobedient servant and use him to bring spiritual awakening to a great city. Jesus used Jonah’s experience to picture his own resurrection and to emphasize the importance of hearing the Word of God and repenting (Matt. 12:38–41; 16:4).
I pray none of you are running from God. But, if you are, change directions and run to Him and He will give you a new beginning, as He did with Jonah.
The Truth: "The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here." (Matthew 12:41)
