Through the Bible - Jonah

God, I do thank You, Lord, for the opportunity to be able to sit at Your feet and study Your Word. As we've been in Your presence now, worshiping You, we just praise and thank You, Lord, for how wonderful You are. You have given us Your Word, revealing Your nature and character to us. As we look at those great things, Lord, Your character here in the book of Jonah, I pray that You would speak to us. Continue to transform our minds and renew us, Lord, as we sit now at Your feet. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

How many of you read the book of Jonah over the last couple of weeks? Most of you did. I took a little break due to different events, including a family gathering a couple of Saturdays ago and then Mike Santana's wedding last week. I asked Josh to teach for a couple of weeks, but tonight we are getting back to our passage here in Scripture. The book of Jonah is a really great book, and I know I say this all the time, but it's true. This is one of my favorites. It is an awesome, powerful story.

Over the years, many what we might call liberal Christians have said that this is just a myth and that it didn't really happen. It always bothers me when I hear people say that about the Bible, that it is just a mythical story. There are more and more liberal theologians today who claim that the writings of the book of Genesis, the creation account, are just myths. I don't think so. I believe God recorded it for us so that we might know how all these things came into existence.

Any philosophy or worldview needs to answer the question, "Where do we come from?" Christianity is the only one that provides a good answer for the origin of life. In this book, we see something significant happen. This is one of those stories that if you ask any child in Sunday school, they know the story of Jonah. They can tell you about Jonah being eaten by the big fish and then being sent to Nineveh. This is a story that many people know and have heard before. However, as I mentioned, there are many liberals out there who say that this didn't really happen.

It couldn't possibly happen that some fish would come and swallow this man. However, I want you to note before we even get into it what it says in verse 17: "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." God made this fish specifically for the work of swallowing Jonah. Maybe these fish still exist today; who knows? All I know is that God prepared this fish to swallow Jonah.

There is a reason why God did that: Jonah was being disobedient. So, if you're being disobedient tonight, watch out. A land shark might come knocking on your door.

One of the other things that I think is important to consider when you think about the book of Jonah is that Jonah was a man who lived. He is a historical individual who actually lived right around the 8th century B.C. In the early part of the 8th century B.C., we see his name mentioned in 2 Kings chapter 14. It talks about this man Jonah, who was the son of Amittai.

Not only that, Jesus also speaks of Jonah. In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—well, actually, Matthew, Mark, and Luke—all record for us Jesus speaking about Jonah in this incident. If you want to flip over real quick to Matthew chapter 12, the first book of the New Testament, Jesus says there in verse 38, "You know, there Jesus says that Jonah was a prophet, and Jonah was swallowed by a big fish, and he was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish." It says in verse 41, "Powerful."

Another passage is found in the book of Mark, specifically in the Gospel of Mark chapter 8.

Again, the Pharisees came forth with a question, seeking a sign. In verse 11, it says that He sighed deeply in His spirit and asked, "Why does this generation seek after a sign? Truly, I say to you, there shall no sign be given to this generation." He left them, entered into a ship, and departed to the other side. He was again stating that there would be no sign, but He would go on to say that the sign they would receive would be of Jonah.

In the book of Luke, chapter 11, if you want to jump over there real quick, we read in verse 29, "And when the people gathered thick together, Jesus began to say, 'This is an evil generation. They seek after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet.'" For as Jonah was a sign, I want you to note that in verse 30, Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites. So shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. Jonah was a sign to those in Nineveh. When he came to them and spoke to them, he himself—not just the words that he spoke—was a sign.

We will talk about that a little bit more when we get into this book, but this is just to set the foundation for the fact that this is a factual event. This is something that took place in history back in the 8th century BC. There is a reason why Jonah was swallowed by that fish, and it is explained in chapter 1 of the book. The book can really be divided into two sections: the first commission of Jonah and the second commission of Jonah.

If you remember, as you read through this book, Jonah did not obey the Lord at first. Thankfully, God spoke to him a second time. In fact, Jonah 3:1 says, "The word of the Lord came unto Jonah a second time." How many of you are thankful that God sometimes will speak twice? There are many times when we just don't listen the first time.

Just to let you all know, Andrea and I found out that we are having a boy. Our first child will be born in October. All of you who have had kids, and my parents can attest to this, know how sometimes you have to tell your children more than once. God, our Father, has to tell us things more than once.

Because we tend to be disobedient and rebellious, that is our flesh. Our flesh is rebellious. We were formerly sons and daughters of disobedience. When we walk according to the flesh, we are going to disobey God. We see Jonah, a man of God and a prophet, walking in his flesh in this passage.

God comes to him and speaks to him in Jonah chapter 1, verse 1. The word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me." God instructs Jonah to cry out and witness against this city because their wickedness has come before Him.

When we read about Jonah in 2 Kings chapter 14, we get an idea of where he lived. He didn't live very far from Nazareth, the city that Jesus was from. Jonah lived in the northern portion of the nation of Israel, in the region that was given to the tribe of Zebulun. He was from the part of Israel that belonged to the ten northern tribes. If you know anything about history, and if you've been going through the Bible with us for any length of time, you are aware that the northern ten tribes were destroyed by the Assyrians. The capital of Assyria was Nineveh.

So, the capital of the biggest enemy of the northern ten tribes was Nineveh. Jonah was living during a time when they were fearful of this enemy, the Assyrians, who would ultimately overrun and completely destroy them. Here, God speaks to one of His prophets and says, "I want you to go to the capital city of your biggest enemy. Go to Nineveh, and cry out to them that their wickedness has come up before me."

Did Jonah obey? In verse 3, we read, "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish," notice this, "from the presence of the Lord." I love that. In Psalm 139, David tells us, "Where can I go from your presence?" Yet here, the prophet Jonah says, "I am not going to Nineveh. I am going to flee from the presence of the Lord." That is complete futility. There is no way to escape the presence of the Lord. Jonah figures he will not do what God wants him to do. We will see his reasoning when we go through the rest of the book, particularly in chapter 4.

But for now, Jonah rose up and decided to flee unto Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa.

He found a ship going to Tarshish. Anytime you're trying to run away from the Lord, I guarantee you, you're going to find a ship to go in the direction you want to go. The enemy is always there, ready to make your way straight if you're wanting to walk away from the Lord. If you're getting ready to backslide and are being tempted towards sin, I can guarantee you that if you turn to go towards it, the enemy is going to have a hook waiting for you to bite on.

There was a ship there going to Tarshish. We have to admire Jonah for the fact that he paid the fare. At the very least, he paid the fare for it. He went down to go into the ship and head to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. Twice in verse 3, we are told that he is seeking to flee from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind. Now we begin to see the sovereignty of God in this. God gives this man His word, His call, His commission, and this man disobeys. But the sovereign hand of God comes in, and the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. There was a mighty tempest upon the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken.

In the midst of this, Jonah says he is not going to do what the Lord says. He jumps on board this boat, and he is out in the Mediterranean Sea, heading towards Tarshish. There is some debate about where Tarshish is. Some people believe that the area of Tarshish is Spain, while others think it extends all the way up to the British Isles. Whatever the case may be, Nineveh was to the east, and Jonah is going west. He is not going in the direction that God wants him to go.

So the Lord sends this great mighty storm. The mariners on the ship were afraid, and they cried out to their gods. They cast forth wares that were on the ship into the sea to lighten the load. But where was Jonah? Jonah had gone down into the sides of the ship and lay there fast asleep. All the other men on board were panicking. There was a great storm, and they were throwing everything they could overboard to try and keep the ship afloat. But Jonah was fast asleep.

The shipmaster came to him and said, "Why are you sleeping down here? Arise, call upon your God." All the other mariners were calling upon their gods, and now they said, "Listen, you're not calling upon your God, buddy. You better do your part. Call upon your God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not." They said to one another, "Come and let us cast lots that we may know whose cause this evil is upon us."

They all recognize that this storm is not normal. They understand that this storm must have some sort of divine origin. Obviously, someone on board this boat is wrong; they are not doing the right thing. So, they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. The Psalms tell us that the lot is cast in the lap, but the whole deciding thereof is of the Lord. Here, the Lord singles out who the problem is. God will always do that.

If you are struggling in your life or if there is something going on, if you are faithful to bring it to the Lord and say, "Search me, Lord, and show me if there be any evil way in me," I guarantee you the Lord is going to show it to you. He will not hide it from you. If there is something standing between you and the Lord's will, and what He desires for you, He will reveal it. But the question is, are we willing to cast it off the boat? Are we willing to recognize that this is standing in the way of what God wants to do in our lives?

Jonah here was the problem. The lot fell upon Jonah, and then they said unto him, "Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? What are your people?" He said unto them, "I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land." The men were exceedingly afraid when they heard this. They said unto him, "What in the world have you done?" Here, the lot has fallen upon you.

Jonah explained, "I am a Hebrew. I fear the God of heaven, the one who created the whole sea." These men worshipped false gods; sometimes they even worshipped the sea itself. Jonah said, "I worship the God who created all of these things." When they heard that, they were fearful and asked, "You must have done something really bad. What is it that you have done?" The men knew that he had fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. He said, "God wants me to do something, and I told Him no. I am trying to get away from Him."

Then they asked him, "What shall we do unto you that the sea may be calm for us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous." Jonah replied, "Take me and cast me forth into the sea. If you want to fix this whole problem, throw me overboard, and the sea shall be calm. For I know that for my sake this great tempest has come upon you."

This man was a man of God, and he understood what was going on. He recognized that this was his fault and that these men were going through this difficult situation because of him. However, I want you to notice the faithfulness of these men. He paid the fare, and they wanted to take care of him. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring the ship to land, but they could not. They didn't want to throw him overboard. You would think that here their lives are in danger.

They were going, "Listen, you're the cause of the problem. All we have to do is throw you overboard, and we'll have a calm sea." Yep, that's it. Oh man, I don't know. We can't do that. They rowed to try and get back to land, but the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Therefore, they cried unto the Lord and said, "We beseech Thee, O Lord. We beseech Thee." Notice that these men, these Gentile men who were serving false gods, now began to cry out to the Lord. Just as Psalm 107 says, "We beseech Thee, lest we perish for this man's life. And lay not upon us innocent blood, for Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee."

So they took Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. We see a complete transformation in these men, these pagan men who were bowing down to their own false gods, trying to fix the situation. When they saw this miracle, they took Jonah, threw him overboard, and immediately, it was like he hit the water, and everything was calm.

In my mind's eye, I see it like this: they throw the guy overboard, and now he's floating in the water, and everything's perfectly calm. They are just looking at him like, "Oh man, it worked." They begin to worship God, make sacrifices to the Lord, and make vows unto the Lord. As Jonah is bobbing around in the water, completely calm, they see something off in the distance coming.

Now, the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. One of the things that blows my mind about this is that here is God's prophet, a man from the Hebrew people, a man of God who spoke the word of God, and he disobeyed the Lord. Yet, God had a fish, an animal, that obeyed Him.

You see that in the book of Isaiah as well, in Isaiah chapter one, where Isaiah says, "The ox knows its master, and the donkey knows where its crib is, where it should go at night, but my people don't know." Here was a man of God who was a prophet of God, and he would disobey, but here is just a fish, an animal, that obeyed and did what the Lord said.

God says to Jonah, "I want you to go to Nineveh." He says, "No, I'm getting on a boat going to Tarshish." God says to the whale, "I need a whale. I'm okay, I'm here. I want you to swallow that guy. Don't chew." And so he swallows him. Then Jonah, in chapter two, verse one, prayed unto the Lord his God.

Out of the belly of the fish, notice that it took Jonah three days and three nights to come to that point. Now he prays, saying, "I cried unto the Lord by reason of mine affliction, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves have passed over me," just as Psalm 42, verse seven says.

Then Jonah said, "I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about even to the soul. The depth closed round about me; the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came unto thee, into thy holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have owed. Salvation is of the Lord."

The Lord spoke unto the fish, and it vomited up Jonah upon dry land. After Jonah finally comes to the Lord and prays, he reaches the end of himself. He calls out to the Lord, who is his salvation, and God speaks to the fish, which then spits Jonah up on dry ground. The word of the Lord came unto Jonah a second time, saying, "Arise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee."

In chapters 1 and 2, we have the commission of Jonah, but first we see his disobedience to the first call. Jonah says, "I'm not going to do what the Lord has called me to do." In light of Jonah's disobedience, God brings his judgment in the form of a great storm and a great fish. That fish was God's avenue to get Jonah to do what He wanted him to do.

God allows such things in our lives to bring us to the place where we will obey Him. This brings Jonah to the point of prayer, and finally, he cries out to the Lord and is delivered. This is something we see throughout the Bible: God allows us to go in our own direction, and we reap what we sow, do we not? Paul tells us in Galatians that God is not mocked.

Whatsoever a man sows, that he shall also reap. If you sow to the flesh, you're going to reap corruption, and God will allow us. This is the awesome thing about our God. God is sovereign; that's very clear. But the thing we see about God in the Bible, the thing that we begin to understand about this sovereign God, is that He knows all and He permits. He permits us to go our own direction in disobedience, but we will reap the consequences of those disobediences.

In this case, Jonah reaps the consequence. He's thrown overboard and eaten by this big fish. Yet still, the Lord was gracious to him. The Lord didn't allow the fish to chew him; God didn't allow him to die. God was waiting for him to turn and call out to the Lord. Once he prayed, the Lord delivered him. Now comes the second call, the second commission.

We see this in many different people's lives in the Bible. Some of you have experienced this as well, where you heard the Lord call. You heard the voice of the Lord saying, "This is what I want you to do. This is the way; walk in it." You disobeyed and went the other direction. Maybe for a month, maybe for two, or even for ten years, you walked in your own direction. But then you came to that point where you were in the belly of the fish, and God called out to you. He's waiting for you to come and to turn and say, "Lord, I give up."

We see this in the life of Jacob, in the life of Abraham, and in the life of Peter. We see this in so many different people's lives in the Bible, where God allows us to go our own direction. But then we come to the place, just as Psalm 107 says, where we come to the end of ourselves and we cry out to the Lord. God is waiting to hear that, just like that father in the parable of the prodigal son. He waited every single day for his son to return, to come back home.

Here, Jonah, although he's not happy about this, listens to what the Lord tells him to do. The second commission comes, and we see Jonah arose and went. Finally, in chapter 3, verse 3, we see Jonah's obedience to the second call. He arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.

Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' journey. I want you to think about that for a moment. It's not saying that Nineveh was a three-day journey from where he was; it's saying that Nineveh was such a great city that it would take you three days to walk from one end of it to the other end. This is a huge city, and this was a city that was completely set against God. Not only that, when you begin to read the history of the Assyrians and the history of this city, Nineveh, it was the place...

That perfected torture. They were the ones who started crucifixion. They also had some very unbelievable techniques of torture. When they would capture a nation or a people, they would oftentimes bring them back to Assyria, especially the strongest and the military might of that city they captured. They'd bring them back to Nineveh, and they would do all kinds of torturous, horrible things to them to show the rest of the nations, "Hey, watch out for us."

One of the things that it said they would do is kill all these people and take their skulls to set up pyramids outside the city. The closer you got to Assyria, to Nineveh, you would see these pyramids of skulls, which served as a sign pointing to the city. They also had this thing called scraping, where they would begin at the fingers and scrape the skin off your body, peeling it back. This was one of the things they did to living people. This was a horrible city, and now this wickedness rises up to God, prompting Him to declare that judgment was coming. So, He sends Jonah to go speak to them.

Luke's Gospel tells us that Jonah was a sign to the people. Do you know what one of the key gods they worshipped was? The god Dagon. Dagon was half fish, half man. Now, here shows up this guy who just got spit out of the belly of a fish on their beaches. It is very likely that after being in the belly of this fish, where all the digestive juices were, this man was stripped of all his hair, stripped of all his clothes, and his skin was probably completely bleached white.

He walks into the city, hairless, bleached, and probably just wrapped in some sort of tunic he could find. What does he say to the people? "Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed." That's his entire message. He just walks through the city proclaiming, "40 days, Nineveh is toast." It wasn't just his words; he himself was a sign to the people in Nineveh.

Now, how did they react to this crazy lunatic coming into their city saying, "40 days, and Nineveh is toast?" The people of Nineveh believed God. Circle that in your Bibles. They believed God, and they proclaimed a fast, putting on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

Consider the greatness of their repentance. The word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne. He laid aside his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

Repenting. Not only that, he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout all of Nineveh by a decree from the king. Let neither man nor beast nor herd nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed, drink, or eat water. The king says everybody is to fast—not just the men, but all the animals. Don't feed or give your animals something to eat or drink.

Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God. This is heartfelt repentance. When this city received the word of the prophet, this disobedient, rebellious prophet walking into the city, they heard, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh is toast." From the greatest of them to the least of them, they repented. The men and the animals fasted, put on sackcloth, and ashes, and cried mightily unto the Lord.

Here was the word of the king: "Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands." Not only was it a repentance in word only; they put away all the wicked things that they held on to. Here was the question: Who can tell if God will turn and relent? Many of your Bibles may translate the word "repent," but it is more accurately translated "relent" and turn away from the fierceness of His anger, that we perish not.

And God saw their works—that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the evil that He had said He would do to them, and He did it not.

Now, you would think that Jonah, the prophet of the Lord, would be happy. You would think that at this repentance, everyone in this entire city listened to his word. Imagine this: This is like the greatest revival of all time. The most wicked city in all the world completely repented at the preaching of Jonah. You would think he would be happy, but he wasn't.

Look at this: Jonah chapter 4, verse 1. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. I love this guy. It displeased him exceedingly; he was very angry, and he prayed unto the Lord. Notice his prayer. This is awesome. He prayed unto the Lord, "Oh Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my own country? Therefore, I fled from you unto Tarshish. The whole reason..."

He fled to Tarshish because he was worried that this might happen. He did not want the Ninevites to turn to the Lord; he wanted them to be destroyed. Why? They were the greatest enemy of his nation. This was a man filled with patriotism. He said, "I want them to be destroyed. I don't want them to repent." He was afraid that if he went there and preached, they would repent. I think that's partially why he preached such a small message. He didn't give them any sort of big message; he just said, "In 40 days, you're toast." He didn't even tell them to repent. He simply stated, "In 40 days, you're going to die." He didn't give them the option of repentance because he wanted them to die. He wanted them to be judged.

Therefore, he fled before the Lord to Tarshish, for he knew that God was a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and that He would repent of the evil. Jonah said, "I knew that You are a good God. I knew that You are a merciful God, and I was worried that You might forgive these people. I didn't want this to happen." Therefore, he pleaded with the Lord, "Take, I beseech Thee, my life. If You're not going to kill them, then kill me. I'd rather not live if this is the way You're going to work." I pray that none of you ever pray that prayer, for it is better for me to die than to live.

Then the Lord asked him, "Doest thou well to be angry?" God was asking Jonah if this was working for him. "Are you going to sit here and be angry? Is it a good thing for you to be upset and angry about the repentance of these people and the salvation that I have brought?" Jonah didn't answer Him, although he would.

So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There, he made himself a booth and sat under it in the shadow, waiting to see what would become of the city. Notice this: Jonah wanted so badly for the city to be destroyed that he left Nineveh. He went and sat just east of the city, up on top of a hill, and made himself a little tent, a little booth. He sat there for probably 40 days, just waiting. He wanted to see them be destroyed, and he was just watching and waiting.

The Lord God prepared, notice this again, the sovereignty of God. The Lord God prepared a gourd and made it come up over Jonah to provide shade over his head and deliver him from his grief. Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the gourd.

This is like a fair-weather follower. There he sits down in a desert region, builds himself a little booth, and watches over the city, waiting for it to be destroyed. The sun is beating down on him, and in His gracious mercy, God not only spares the city but also causes a plant to grow quickly, providing shade over Jonah. Now he is happy, at least a little bit.

But God prepared a worm. Again, in His sovereignty, God prepares a worm. When the morning rose the next day, it smote the gourd, and it withered. It came to pass that when the sun arose, God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat upon Jonah's head. He fainted and wished to die again. Look at this rollercoaster ride he is on. He is so upset that the city is not destroyed that he builds himself a tent and waits to watch for its destruction. Then this gourd comes up, gives him shade, and oh, how thankful he is! He is happy; he has a nice place to watch the destruction of Nineveh from, or so he thinks. But then the gourd dies. The worm comes along, and now this hot east wind blows, and he is angry again. "Oh Lord, just kill me."

God spoke to him again in verse 9, asking, "Doest thou well to be angry? Is it working for you to be upset about the gourd?" Jonah answers the Lord, and I love this. He says, "I do well to be angry, even unto death. Yes, I'm happy being angry here, thank you very much."

Then the Lord said, "You have had pity on the gourd for which you have not labored, neither made it grow. It came up in the night and perished in the night. Should I not spare Nineveh, the great city wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?"

God says to him, "You are upset and angry because this gourd has withered, although you didn't plant it or do anything to make it grow. I made it grow; I allowed it to grow up, and I also allowed it to die. Now you are upset because I have not destroyed this city. You didn't labor for this city to make it grow. I brought it about; I created it, and I allowed them to build this city, and you just want them to be destroyed. You are upset with me because I have not destroyed them."

As you desire, but I've given them grace and I've given them mercy. You're so angry at them, and yet you don't even realize that there are thousands who can't discern their right hand from their left. That's a Hebrew way of saying there are thousands of innocent children in that city. Not only that, there is much cattle in that city, and you just want it to go up in flames. You just want it to be destroyed.

It’s amazing to me that this story ends just like that. It just stops right there. Why? Well, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 that all these things were written for our instruction, for our admonition. They are written as examples for us. This is a story that causes us to think about ourselves. It causes us to be introspective. Who are we in this story? Do we mirror and have the heart of God, who desires to give grace and mercy even to wicked Gentiles who do abominable things, horrible things? Or are we more like Jonah, who would much rather see them go up in flames? Just destroy them. Get rid of them.

Where are we in this story? Are we the ones who are running from the Lord, not wanting to do what He wants us to do? Or are we like the king of this wicked city, Nineveh, who is willing to repent at the word of the Lord, willing to turn at the word of the Lord? Are we like Jonah, who sits there on the east hill outside of Nineveh and is angry at God, even to the point of saying, "Just kill me, Lord, because I don't have any shade, I'm not receiving any blessing, and I'm not getting my way"?

Or do we more identify with the men who were on the boat with Jonah, who recognized this is the very hand of God and were willing to do whatever it took to receive His blessing? It’s a powerful story and an important one. I can see why the enemy has sought to make people doubt the validity of this story. I can see why our adversary, the devil, doesn't want people to trust this story because it really challenges every single one of us at the core.

Who would we identify with in this story? It’s my prayer for myself that I would see the heart of God in and through my life as I follow after Him. But the heart of God is totally different than that of man. We're going to see.

As we move on into Micah here soon, we must remember that God is not a man. He is not like we are; He is totally different in the way that He works. Isaiah tells us this in Isaiah chapter 55: His ways are higher than ours, and His thoughts are beyond our finding out. I am so thankful that He works in a different way than we do because, if we had the power, we would destroy everybody that we perceive to be our enemies.

Consider two of Jesus' disciples, James and John. As they were going towards Jerusalem, they passed through a city in Samaria. The people of that city said, "Hey, we'd like you to come stay with us," but Jesus replied, "I can't. I'm moving. I'm going to Jerusalem. I'm here for a purpose." The people of that city in Samaria were upset with Jesus, and word came to His disciples. So, what did James and John say? "Lord, would you like us to call down fire upon them? Do you want us to destroy them? They are our enemies."

However, we see the heart of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, where He tells us in Matthew chapter 5 how to respond to those who curse us and spitefully use us. He says to His disciples to rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. Jesus also instructs His disciples to pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you. That is the heart of our Lord.

We see the heart of God so powerfully in the book of Jonah, and it stands in stark contrast to the heart of man. Even a man who would be considered a godly man, a prophet, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, can struggle with this. Yet, God has a global focus; He reaches out to the Gentiles, extending grace to the most wicked city in all the earth at that time.

It is a powerful reminder that these events took place somewhere around 780 to 760 BC. About 700 BC, these same people from Assyria would turn away from the Lord and turn against Him, ultimately destroying Jonah's people. They would completely consume and destroy the northern ten tribes in the 600s BC, and God would ultimately judge them because of their wickedness. But here, on this day, we see a different aspect of God's character.

At this time, God gave them grace in a powerful way. God relented from His anger because they repented from their wickedness, and He has done so in my life and in your life as well. Praise the Lord that He has! Thank God that, as it relates to you and as it relates to me, God didn't listen to the Jonahs in our lives who wanted God to judge us.

I often think about the Apostle Paul, who was formerly Saul of Tarsus. The Scripture tells us in Acts chapter 8, verse 2, that Saul made havoc of the church. He destroyed the church, seeking to completely obliterate it. I guarantee you that 99.9% of the Christians in that day were praying that God would kill Saul of Tarsus. God did, but not in the way they thought, because that Saul of Tarsus would become the Apostle Paul. I can assure you that there was nobody praying for him to be saved; they were all praying that God would judge him and pour out fire upon him.

This serves as a check for my heart and a check for yours as well. There are people in our lives who may cut us off on the freeway or spitefully use us at work. When we see them or think about them, we might start to say, "Oh Lord, just destroy them!" But God has a different heart for them, and He desires that we would as well. Amen?

Let's stand and pray. God, I thank You for the reminder of this book that You don't see as we see. Your heart is so different from ours, and I pray, Lord, that You would continue to transform us. Lord, help us to see as You see and to love as You love. Greater love has no one than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends. Yet, You demonstrated Your love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, while we were yet Your enemies, You died for us. Lord, I pray that You would impart that heart to each and every one of us as we walk with You, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.