The Bigness of God
The story of Jonah and the Whale is a Biblical ‘classic’! Having read it again this last week I was amazed at the behaviour of Jonah and the bigness of God! Jonah was a ‘complex’ man! He could hear God, which was rare in the time of this Old Testament story. When God asked him to go and preach to the people in the great Assyrian city of Nineveh, he disobeyed and went the other way! He boarded a ship, got caught in a storm, was thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish! In the belly of this beast he repented and decided to obey God. He went to Nineveh and did as God asked, and this is what happened...
“When God saw what the people did, that they stopped doing evil, he changed his mind and did not do what he had warned. He did not punish them.”
Instead of being pleased, Jonah was annoyed at God, because he knew that God was merciful and gracious and if people heard and changed then He would relent! God was not pleased with Jonah’s response at all. What amazes me is that God chose to work through a fallible man like Jonah. If God will do that then I believe He can work through you and me! Also, I was thrilled again to see God’s mercy in action. For Jonah, the Ninevites were an enemy, but to God they were people in need of his gracious kindness! What can you learn from this powerful story?
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader
Jonah on the Beach at Nineveh, by Daniel A. Lewis