27 Aug Jonah: A story of redemption Part: One

Thank you God for redeeming me. I’ll admit, that even at the age that I am now, I still suffer with acceptance. There’s still a part of me that always feel like I have to earn Gods love. That I have to do something in order for him to bat an eye at me. That when I mess up, whether on accident or deliberately, that my actions somehow causes him to withdraw his love back from me. His Grace. I feel like how Adam felt when he sinned, and went hiding in the garden from an upset and disappointed God.

He knew he had done wrong, and instead of fessing up to it, he decided to hide. As if you can hide any action or thoughts from God. But shame and guilt is not for the clear of mind. You cannot think clearly when your mind is plague with guilt and shame. When we disobey God, this is one of the consequences that we reap upon ourselves. And we may believe, like Adam believed, it is better to hide our shame and our guilt, then to expose it for God to see. Not realizing that he already see’s what you’ve done before you’ve done it.

It’s natural for us to think this way, because were natural. We live in a world that is natural. And if you are a town or state away, or out of my natural view, I wouldn’t be able to tell what it is you do when you are away.

God is forever present. He appears to be very hands off with us, not because he is absent, but he likes to appear a lot of times, as if he is absent. If you had a natural chaperone following you around everywhere, such as a Parent, you would be on your best behavior at all times. You would say all the right things, do all the right things, because you know if you didn’t, there would be a consequence. A penalty. Soon as they left, all the things you wanted to do but was unable to do when they were there, you would start doing because they are no longer there to monitor your behavior.

Our Parents can’t be with us 24/7, so they try to raise us in a way that when we are not able to monitor their behavior, they will do the right things. 

God is our spiritual chaperone. He monitors are lives. He monitors are behavior. He monitors our actions. He monitors our conversations. He monitors us to see if we will do the right thing, even though he is not physically there with us. He let’s us make our own decisions. Good and bad. He let’s us sin. He doesn’t stand over us, like a Parent would do and tell their child not to do this, and not to do that. He allows us to sin. And when we do, he waits to see if we will come to him with full admission of guilt, or hide from him like Adam did.

If Adam had confessed to God soon after he sinned, things may have went different for him, for all of us. When God has to come to us because of our sin, we find ourselves on a dangerous slope. Do not tempt God with your sins. Confess them. Don’t hide like Adam did. Don’t run like Jonah did. Confess them. God is able to redeem those who are willing. If you have the desire to please God, he is willing to redeem.

The greatest lesson of the book of Jonah is not being swallowed up by the whale. The whale gets far too much attention. The whale in the book of Jonah, is just a prop God used to tell the real story. The Book of Jonah is about God. He’s the star of this story. Jonah is the person God used to show us what it is we need to know about him.

If you ask anyone about the Book of Jonah, they will surely say he was swallowed by a whale, inside his belly for three days, and then spit out of his mouth. It is a famous story that I think just about everyone knows. Like the story of “Moby Dick”. Just about everyone has heard of that story. We’re not going to focus on the fish, but instead were going to focus on God and ourselves.

The first sentence we see in the Book of Jonah is this: “And the Word of Jehovah came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their evil has come up before Me”. We see God speaking to Jonah, and giving him instruction. Based off of all the things that followed regarding Jonah’s actions, I’m going to confidently assume Jonah was not a “super saint”. He was very much of flesh and bone as the rest of us. Not a super Christian, not a super saint, not a mythical faith believer. But a real life person with real life quirks. Proving God is not a respecter of persons. He will converse with the righteous the same as the unrighteous.

Though you may not. There are some who you will not speak to, whom God will speak to. Not because they are better then you, or you of them, but because God is not partial, so therefore his decisions are his alone and no one can work to sway his favor away from another. Jonah refuses Gods instruction, and in the verse three we see Jonah’s life as a fugitive beginning.

He decides being a fugitive on the run from God, is more tolerable then going to speak to “those” people. And who are “those” people? The gentile nation of the Ninevites. Which was part of the Assyrian Empire. They were not of the covenant relationship with God. They were not part of Israel. They were a heathen nation who worshipped idols.
God describes Nineveh as a “great city”. Great in numbers, great in resources, and great in wealth. These were the people who Jonah decided it was better to be an enemy of God, then to go speak to the people of that nation.

We can surmise from Jonah’s action, that he had a deep seated hatred towards the Assyrians, and in particular the city of Nineveh. From God’s own mouth it was a great city. Lacking in nothing from a natural prospective. I would also surmise, that this “great city” of the Assyrian Empire, was the envy of many of the surrounding nations. Why would I surmise such a thing? One: because they were thriving and prosperous; Two; They were extremely powerful; And three:  They were a Gentile nation.  And I will add a fourth: Jonah’s strong dislike towards them. 

Jonah did not feel at all sorry for their lack of morality, their unrighteous behavior, knowing God will punish such actions. Had Jonah been moved by compassion, he would have joyfully jumped at the instruction from God to go to and preach to the Ninevites for their repentance. Instead, Jonah was moved with indignation and contempt towards the people of Nineveh. He was not moved by their lack of knowledge of God. He was not seeking for their deliverance from Judgement, he was seeking for their destruction. 

Nineveh, this great city, was prospering and thriving well, while all at the same time engaging in sinful behavior to their hearts content. Jonah saw all these things, and God finally delivering to them all that they sowed, was Jonah’s passion. The passion for vengeance. Jonah probably meditated on that many times over and over again. “I can’t wait until the Lord gives that person what’s coming to them”! Again, God is showing us that even those who do not know him, he loves and cares about. 

They are on his mind, as we are. And he is always thinking of ways to get them to repent and join his Family. He is also exposing Jonah’s heart. That instead of having compassion and love towards the lost, Jonah had contempt, hatred, disdain, and jealously towards the people of Nineveh. Jealously because they were such a great city, as describe by God himself, and yet, they had no relationship with the one true God. That brings us to another very important detail, “Wealth and prosperity is not evidence that God is present”.

JONAH:  A STORY OF REDEMPTION JONAH:  A STORY OF REDEMPTION

Wicked people prosper in this life, as much as they are ruin. Do not look at a nations resources and wealth status alone to conclude if God is walking with them. They were great in the things that Men honor and and seek out, but they were destitute in the things that God honors and seeks out from Men. Jonah knew they were spiritually in ruins, but was more concern about the Earthly gain and comforts they had acquired and were enjoying.

Before we come crashing down on Jonah, let’s put ourselves in Jonah’s shoes. Better yet, let’s go back to a time in our own lives, perhaps even right now, where you behaved exactly as Jonah did. A Family member, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, someone from Facebook. Someone’s life that looks great from the outside.

 They may have a bank account that’s over flowing, why yours is barely treading water. They have a big spacious home, while you and your family have out grown yours. Or maybe you don’t even have a house at all. You just have an apartment. A loud one at that. Where you hear every neighbors conversation when they speak. And the parking sucks too.  You can never find a space when you need a space, or someone else is parking in your space.

Also your unmarried. You’ve been single for a long time, or your newly single. The person you thought you were suppose to marry broke up with you. Or the person your suppose to marry, you haven’t met yet. They got a big house, with an over flowing bank account, and they don’t even go to Church. Their atheist. They don’t pray. They don’t read the Bible. They’re doing all the things the Bible tells you not to do, willingly. And your struggling trying not to do all the things that their doing.

It can be demoralizing. It can leave a bad taste in your mouth. Jonah had a bad taste in his mouth against these people.

The prosperity of the people of that city, provoked Jonah, just like those Facebook post you see, and timeline updates of people living their best lives in comparison to yours. I’m convinced, that everyone on Facebook has a better life then me, if I just look at what people show. But people only show you the things that they want you to see. People are like onions, we have a lot of layers to ourselves, and we always put the best layers at the top. But when you start peeling back and looking at the layers underneath, you see all the things they don’t want you to see.

Nineveh was spiritually and morally deprived. Jonah wasn’t upset about the spiritual condition they were in, sadly. I believe Jonah was upset about that fact that they were spiritually and morally deprived, and still prospering in-spite of it, because it doesn’t line up with what his view of God is.

There is an expectation we have of God. We expect him to punish people when they do wrong, except for when it’s us. Then it’s mercy. When it’s someone else judgement. When it’s us, mercy. I’ve been guilty of this. Someone does me wrong, my first reaction is to retaliate. It’s like a reflex. You throw a punch, I throw a punch. You throw a brick, I throw a brick. Next time someone throws a brick at you, duck, go somewhere where it’s quiet and pray.

And when you’ve master your flesh in that way, you can show me how to do it! Jonah removed himself from the proximity of the assignment. Jonah went down to Joppa, which was known as the port-city of Jerusalem, to catch a boat Tarshish. Joppa is approximately 350.86-miles away from Nineveh, and Tarshish is approximately 101-miles from Joppa. The distance between Jerusalem and Nineveh was already great. 

Jonah was so displeased with this assignment, he decided to create an even greater distance between himself and the city of Nineveh. Jonah did not merely go to the next town over, or two towns over, he went to sail an additional 100-miles to create an even further distance from where his assignment was supposed to be. Has God ever given you an assignment that you didn’t want to do?

To help someone you didn’t wanna help. Speak to someone you didn’t want to speak to you. If he hasn’t yet he will. Stay tune for that. Jonah was so angry and filled with bitterness, he decided that God would simply have to choose someone else. He took a boat going the opposite direction.

In todays terms, would we say Jonah took a plane and flew to a coastal island. God will have to choose someone else to go talk to those people, I’m a on plane going in the complete, opposite direction. There are somethings God wants us to do, and there are somethings God calls us to do. When God wants you to do something, he usually urges you. When God calls you to do something, it’s authoritative, your doing it!

There are plenty examples in the Bible of Gods authoritative calling. God meeting Saul on Damascus road; Moses meeting God in the burning Bush; God commanding Noah to build the Ark; and we’ll see it here with Jonah as well. God is not just issuing an assignment to Jonah to speak to Ninevites, he’s also in the process of revealing to Jonah, the deficiencies of his heart.

When we walk with God, he reveals things to us about ourselves that we don’t see. It’s hard to see your own deficiencies. Especially when you’ve been living with them your whole life. God will put you in situations to reveal the things in your heart that need to change. Most of the time we ignore it. Were just trying to get through the obstacle or the trial that God has placed us in, we never stop to think, maybe there’s something we need to see in it.

If you’ve learned anything from reading my lessons, you know that I always like to take my time, and take things slow. People read the Bible too fast. Your life is not a story. It’s your life. You have a “life story”, but it’s more then just a story. There’s a lot to Jonah then just getting swallowed by a fish. There’s a lot more to you then you being swallowed by your “fish”.

Whatever place you find yourself in, that God put you in, that you can’t get out of, because the only person who can get you out, is the very person who put you there. I think our bitterness, our frustrations, our anger, our disappointments, can all put us in a place, that only God can get us out of. I don’t think it’s scenery around us that needs to change, but our attitudes and how we view things that needs to change. I don’t judge at all for what he did, and for what he tried do.

He’s human. And when your hurt, or when your angry, or when your disappointed, we all do things. The secret is to pray first, and act second. Most of us throw a retaliating punch first, and then pray. That’s how we can end up in trouble like Jonah did. The Hebrews was Gods chosen people. So Jonah left the place where God’s presence was known to reside. Most Gentile nations at that time didn’t have a relationship with God, so Jonah left. He thought he would be safe. But God’s presence is even amongst the heathen. Those worshipping idols, as well as those practicing atheism. 

We will see Jonah make a decree later on in chapter 4 of the book of Jonah. It is the same decree we see Paul make in 2 Corinthians. It is the same decree that Job made before God in the Book of Job. And we will discuss this decree.  God tests the boundary’s of every man.

In Jonah’s case, there was no “pray first” reaction, because it was God himself calling him to action. Next week we will go over what happens to Jonah when he boards the ship from Joppa in verse 3. Believe it or not, we have covered mainly the first two verses only! 

As I said prior, the Bible should be a slow read. There are no trophies at the end for reading it the fastest. But there are revelations at the end, for the persons who choose to read it slow. And I pray that whoever needs to hear this word, will hear it. And that whoever needed to hear this word, has heard it. They may be struggling in life right now, with bitterness, anger, frustration. A lot of times these are just vines hanging off a tree of pain and hurt and disappointment.

Prosperity in a persons life does not equate to Gods presence, and suffering in a persons life does not equate to Gods absence. You can be blessed and be suffering. I suffer, and I’m blessed. Both things are true. You are blessed, though you suffer. The Son of Man was blessed, though he suffered. 

Jonah confesses that God is a gracious God and slow to anger. How great is that. He deals with us from a prospective of patience and grace, not judgement. That’s how he deals with all of us. Even those who do not believe. You will see the Book of Jonah in a whole new way. I promise this to you. You will remember it more then just the man who got swallowed by a whale for disobeying God.

You will see a man, who was struggling for years with a heart issue. You will see God glorify himself even in Jonah’s disobedience. You will see God redeem Jonah twice! Please join me next week, as we break down more in this short 4 chapter book, that has so much grace and wisdom in it. I pray that God’s Grace and hedge of protection keeps you and your family safe, and that any assignments he has called you to, you will fulfill it in the spirit of humility. God Bless you until next time.

Wicked people prosper in this life

             

Thank you God for redeeming me. I’ll admit, that even at the age that I am now, I still suffer with acceptance. There’s still a part of me that always feel like I have to earn Gods love. That I have to do something in order for him to bat an eye at me. That when I mess up, whether on accident or deliberately, that my actions somehow causes him to withdraw his love back from me. His Grace. I feel like how Adam felt when he sinned, and went hiding in the garden from an upset and disappointed God.

He knew he had done wrong, and instead of fessing up to it, he decided to hide. As if you can hide any action or thoughts from God. But shame and guilt is not for the clear of mind. You cannot think clearly when your mind is plague with guilt and shame. When we disobey God, this is one of the consequences that we reap upon ourselves. And we may believe, like Adam believed, it is better to hide our shame and our guilt, then to expose it for God to see. Not realizing that he already see’s what you’ve done before you’ve done it.

It’s natural for us to think this way, because were natural. We live in a world that is natural. And if you are a town or state away, or out of my natural view, I wouldn’t be able to tell what it is you do when you are away.

God is forever present. He appears to be very hands off with us, not because he is absent, but he likes to appear a lot of times, as if he is absent. If you had a natural chaperone following you around everywhere, such as a Parent, you would be on your best behavior at all times. You would say all the right things, do all the right things, because you know if you didn’t, there would be a consequence. A penalty. Soon as they left, all the things you wanted to do but was unable to do when they were there, you would start doing because they are no longer there to monitor your behavior.

Our Parents can’t be with us 24/7, so they try to raise us in a way that when we are not able to monitor their behavior, they will do the right things. 

God is our spiritual chaperone. He monitors are lives. He monitors are behavior. He monitors our actions. He monitors our conversations. He monitors us to see if we will do the right thing, even though he is not physically there with us. He let’s us make our own decisions. Good and bad. He let’s us sin. He doesn’t stand over us, like a Parent would do and tell their child not to do this, and not to do that. He allows us to sin. And when we do, he waits to see if we will come to him with full admission of guilt, or hide from him like Adam did.

If Adam had confessed to God soon after he sinned, things may have went different for him, for all of us. When God has to come to us because of our sin, we find ourselves on a dangerous slope. Do not tempt God with your sins. Confess them. Don’t hide like Adam did. Don’t run like Jonah did. Confess them. God is able to redeem those who are willing. If you have the desire to please God, he is willing to redeem.

The greatest lesson of the book of Jonah is not being swallowed up by the whale. The whale gets far too much attention. The whale in the book of Jonah, is just a prop God used to tell the real story. The Book of Jonah is about God. He’s the star of this story. Jonah is the person God used to show us what it is we need to know about him.

If you ask anyone about the Book of Jonah, they will surely say he was swallowed by a whale, inside his belly for three days, and then spit out of his mouth. It is a famous story that I think just about everyone knows. Like the story of “Moby Dick”. Just about everyone has heard of that story. We’re not going to focus on the fish, but instead were going to focus on God and ourselves.

The first sentence we see in the Book of Jonah is this: “And the Word of Jehovah came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their evil has come up before Me”. We see God speaking to Jonah, and giving him instruction. Based off of all the things that followed regarding Jonah’s actions, I’m going to confidently assume Jonah was not a “super saint”. He was very much of flesh and bone as the rest of us. Not a super Christian, not a super saint, not a mythical faith believer. But a real life person with real life quirks. Proving God is not a respecter of persons. He will converse with the righteous the same as the unrighteous.

Though you may not. There are some who you will not speak to, whom God will speak to. Not because they are better then you, or you of them, but because God is not partial, so therefore his decisions are his alone and no one can work to sway his favor away from another. Jonah refuses Gods instruction, and in the verse three we see Jonah’s life as a fugitive beginning.

He decides being a fugitive on the run from God, is more tolerable then going to speak to “those” people. And who are “those” people? The gentile nation of the Ninevites. Which was part of the Assyrian Empire. They were not of the covenant relationship with God. They were not part of Israel. They were a heathen nation who worshipped idols.
God describes Nineveh as a “great city”. Great in numbers, great in resources, and great in wealth. These were the people who Jonah decided it was better to be an enemy of God, then to go speak to the people of that nation.

We can surmise from Jonah’s action, that he had a deep seated hatred towards the Assyrians, and in particular the city of Nineveh. From God’s own mouth it was a great city. Lacking in nothing from a natural prospective. I would also surmise, that this “great city” of the Assyrian Empire, was the envy of many of the surrounding nations. Why would I surmise such a thing? One: because they were thriving and prosperous; Two; They were extremely powerful; And three:  They were a Gentile nation.  And I will add a fourth: Jonah’s strong dislike towards them. 

Jonah did not feel at all sorry for their lack of morality, their unrighteous behavior, knowing God will punish such actions. Had Jonah been moved by compassion, he would have joyfully jumped at the instruction from God to go to and preach to the Ninevites for their repentance. Instead, Jonah was moved with indignation and contempt towards the people of Nineveh. He was not moved by their lack of knowledge of God. He was not seeking for their deliverance from Judgement, he was seeking for their destruction. 

Nineveh, this great city, was prospering and thriving well, while all at the same time engaging in sinful behavior to their hearts content. Jonah saw all these things, and God finally delivering to them all that they sowed, was Jonah’s passion. The passion for vengeance. Jonah probably meditated on that many times over and over again. “I can’t wait until the Lord gives that person what’s coming to them”! Again, God is showing us that even those who do not know him, he loves and cares about. 

They are on his mind, as we are. And he is always thinking of ways to get them to repent and join his Family. He is also exposing Jonah’s heart. That instead of having compassion and love towards the lost, Jonah had contempt, hatred, disdain, and jealously towards the people of Nineveh. Jealously because they were such a great city, as describe by God himself, and yet, they had no relationship with the one true God. That brings us to another very important detail, “Wealth and prosperity is not evidence that God is present”.

Wicked people prosper in this life

Wicked people prosper in this life, as much as they are ruin. Do not look at a nations resources and wealth status alone to conclude if God is walking with them. They were great in the things that Men honor and and seek out, but they were destitute in the things that God honors and seeks out from Men. Jonah knew they were spiritually in ruins, but was more concern about the Earthly gain and comforts they had acquired and were enjoying.

Before we come crashing down on Jonah, let’s put ourselves in Jonah’s shoes. Better yet, let’s go back to a time in our own lives, perhaps even right now, where you behaved exactly as Jonah did. A Family member, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, someone from Facebook. Someone’s life that looks great from the outside.

They may have a bank account that’s over flowing, why yours is barely treading water. They have a big spacious home, while you and your family have out grown yours. Or maybe you don’t even have a house at all. You just have an apartment. A loud one at that. Where you hear every neighbors conversation when they speak. And the parking sucks too.  You can never find a space when you need a space, or someone else is parking in your space.

Also your unmarried. You’ve been single for a long time, or your newly single. The person you thought you were suppose to marry broke up with you. Or the person your suppose to marry, you haven’t met yet. They got a big house, with an over flowing bank account, and they don’t even go to Church. Their atheist. They don’t pray. They don’t read the Bible. They’re doing all the things the Bible tells you not to do, willingly. And your struggling trying not to do all the things that their doing.

It can be demoralizing. It can leave a bad taste in your mouth. Jonah had a bad taste in his mouth against these people.

The prosperity of the people of that city, provoked Jonah, just like those Facebook post you see, and timeline updates of people living their best lives in comparison to yours. I’m convinced, that everyone on Facebook has a better life then me, if I just look at what people show. But people only show you the things that they want you to see. People are like onions, we have a lot of layers to ourselves, and we always put the best layers at the top. But when you start peeling back and looking at the layers underneath, you see all the things they don’t want you to see.

Nineveh was spiritually and morally deprived. Jonah wasn’t upset about the spiritual condition they were in, sadly. I believe Jonah was upset about that fact that they were spiritually and morally deprived, and still prospering in-spite of it, because it doesn’t line up with what his view of God is.

There is an expectation we have of God. We expect him to punish people when they do wrong, except for when it’s us. Then it’s mercy. When it’s someone else judgement. When it’s us, mercy. I’ve been guilty of this. Someone does me wrong, my first reaction is to retaliate. It’s like a reflex. You throw a punch, I throw a punch. You throw a brick, I throw a brick. Next time someone throws a brick at you, duck, go somewhere where it’s quiet and pray.

And when you’ve master your flesh in that way, you can show me how to do it! Jonah removed himself from the proximity of the assignment. Jonah went down to Joppa, which was known as the port-city of Jerusalem, to catch a boat Tarshish. Joppa is approximately 350.86-miles away from Nineveh, and Tarshish is approximately 101-miles from Joppa. The distance between Jerusalem and Nineveh was already great. 

Jonah was so displeased with this assignment, he decided to create an even greater distance between himself and the city of Nineveh. Jonah did not merely go to the next town over, or two towns over, he went to sail an additional 100-miles to create an even further distance from where his assignment was supposed to be. Has God ever given you an assignment that you didn’t want to do?

To help someone you didn’t wanna help. Speak to someone you didn’t want to speak to you. If he hasn’t yet he will. Stay tune for that. Jonah was so angry and filled with bitterness, he decided that God would simply have to choose someone else. He took a boat going the opposite direction.

In todays terms, would we say Jonah took a plane and flew to a coastal island. God will have to choose someone else to go talk to those people, I’m a on plane going in the complete, opposite direction. There are somethings God wants us to do, and there are somethings God calls us to do. When God wants you to do something, he usually urges you. When God calls you to do something, it’s authoritative, your doing it!

There are plenty examples in the Bible of Gods authoritative calling. God meeting Saul on Damascus road; Moses meeting God in the burning Bush; God commanding Noah to build the Ark; and we’ll see it here with Jonah as well. God is not just issuing an assignment to Jonah to speak to Ninevites, he’s also in the process of revealing to Jonah, the deficiencies of his heart.

When we walk with God, he reveals things to us about ourselves that we don’t see. It’s hard to see your own deficiencies. Especially when you’ve been living with them your whole life. God will put you in situations to reveal the things in your heart that need to change. Most of the time we ignore it. Were just trying to get through the obstacle or the trial that God has placed us in, we never stop to think, maybe there’s something we need to see in it.

If you’ve learned anything from reading my lessons, you know that I always like to take my time, and take things slow. People read the Bible too fast. Your life is not a story. It’s your life. You have a “life story”, but it’s more then just a story. There’s a lot to Jonah then just getting swallowed by a fish. There’s a lot more to you then you being swallowed by your “fish”.

Whatever place you find yourself in, that God put you in, that you can’t get out of, because the only person who can get you out, is the very person who put you there. I think our bitterness, our frustrations, our anger, our disappointments, can all put us in a place, that only God can get us out of. I don’t think it’s scenery around us that needs to change, but our attitudes and how we view things that needs to change. I don’t judge at all for what he did, and for what he tried do.

He’s human. And when your hurt, or when your angry, or when your disappointed, we all do things. The secret is to pray first, and act second. Most of us throw a retaliating punch first, and then pray. That’s how we can end up in trouble like Jonah did. The Hebrews was Gods chosen people. So Jonah left the place where God’s presence was known to reside. Most Gentile nations at that time didn’t have a relationship with God, so Jonah left. He thought he would be safe. But God’s presence is even amongst the heathen. Those worshipping idols, as well as those practicing atheism. 

We will see Jonah make a decree later on in chapter 4 of the book of Jonah. It is the same decree we see Paul make in 2 Corinthians. It is the same decree that Job made before God in the Book of Job. And we will discuss this decree.  God tests the boundary’s of every man.

In Jonah’s case, there was no “pray first” reaction, because it was God himself calling him to action. Next week we will go over what happens to Jonah when he boards the ship from Joppa in verse 3. Believe it or not, we have covered mainly the first two verses only! 

As I said prior, the Bible should be a slow read. There are no trophies at the end for reading it the fastest. But there are revelations at the end, for the persons who choose to read it slow. And I pray that whoever needs to hear this word, will hear it. And that whoever needed to hear this word, has heard it. They may be struggling in life right now, with bitterness, anger, frustration. A lot of times these are just vines hanging off a tree of pain and hurt and disappointment.

Prosperity in a persons life does not equate to Gods presence, and suffering in a persons life does not equate to Gods absence. You can be blessed and be suffering. I suffer, and I’m blessed. Both things are true. You are blessed, though you suffer. The Son of Man was blessed, though he suffered. 

Jonah confesses that God is a gracious God and slow to anger. How great is that. He deals with us from a prospective of patience and grace, not judgement. That’s how he deals with all of us. Even those who do not believe. You will see the Book of Jonah in a whole new way. I promise this to you. You will remember it more then just the man who got swallowed by a whale for disobeying God.

You will see a man, who was struggling for years with a heart issue. You will see God glorify himself even in Jonah’s disobedience. You will see God redeem Jonah twice! Please join me next week, as we break down more in this short 4 chapter book, that has so much grace and wisdom in it. I pray that God’s Grace and hedge of protection keeps you and your family safe, and that any assignments he has called you to, you will fulfill it in the spirit of humility. God Bless you until next time.

Jonah: A Story Of Redemption Part 2