Jonah: his story covers 1 page in my Bible sandwiched in-between the minor prophets. The short account we have of his life intrigues me sooo much. Jonah was a prophet: which meant he was essentially “God’s mouthpiece.” We don’t know what God had called Jonah to say or do prior to this account, but when God calls him to Nineveh; verse 3 of chapter 1 says that:
“Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
Given the fact that he was a prophet I suppose Jonah had a previous track record of being obedient & following God’s call. I would think that Jonah had an outward appearance of a “surrendered life” — but internally Jonah had something in his heart that only he & God knew about.
Perhaps Jonah had set some conditions in his heart: “Lord, I’ll go anywhere You send me. But just don’t call me to Nineveh. Anywhere but there, ok?”
So when God calls Jonah to arise & go to Nineveh—he draws the line and runs. He books it for a ship headed in the opposite direction of Nineveh & goes to the lowest part of the ship to fall asleep.
As he sought rest maybe Jonah reasoned within himself: “Certainly God will call someone else now; He won’t continue to pursue me. I sent Him a clear message, I’m not going there.“
But just as God’s heart was for the people of Nineveh, God’s heart was for Jonah.
God was pursuing Jonah to give him both the desire & power to follow and obey His call—but Jonah resisted.
Philippians 2:13 says:
“For God is working in you,
giving you the desire & the power
to do what pleases Him.” (NLT)
Have you experienced the reality and extent of God’s relentless desire to transform your heart?
Have you been scared of what that change would look like…so you decided to run instead?
Have you believed that you could run from the voice of God?
Have you thought you could block out His words with enough noise?
I have.
In my experience, any time I try to do that the noise is deafening and my heart longs for the quiet stillness of His presence.
I know how it feels to run: the exhaustion & the battle that ensues when you choose to go against what God has spoken.
God wanted to transform Jonah’s heart: so He called him to Nineveh. Only in Nineveh would Jonah be able to experience God’s heart for grace, mercy, reconciliation & restoration.
Jonah couldn’t fathom that God would offer repentance & forgiveness to a people so unrighteous & lawless.
Jonah was running—
not only from God’s call;
but from God’s heart.
God was not only concerned about the wickedness and coming judgement for Nineveh, He was also concerned for the heart of His prophet. When God places His affection on you; He desires to remove anything that hinders your relationship with Him. Even though it will not be comfortable or “feel good” He calls us to hard places and to do hard things because He wants to transform us & those around us — something that will last for eternity.
God is not merely concerned with a message—He is concerned for the heart of the person delivering the message.
In verses 2 & 3 of chapter 4 Jonah reflects on who he knows God to be:
“I know that You are a gracious & merciful God,
slow to anger & abundant in lovingkindness,
One who relents from doing harm.
Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me,
for it is better for me to die than to live!”
God desires us to be made more into His likeness & image.
How?
When we surrender our life to the control of the Holy Spirit the very nature & being of God comes to live inside us to live His life through us.
In Jonah’s life we see the wrestle and struggle that ensues when we fight against that surrender. God desired to remove the bitterness, resentment, anger, pride, prejudice, envy, jealousy, & selfishness that Jonah had been holding onto…
… but Jonah had other plans:
Jonah wanted to run…