Lessons from Jonah

 

 

I have been listening this past week to a series of teachings on the book of Jonah. I have always loved the book of Jonah and found it very interesting. I have found God revealing some essential truths in the book of Jonah.

 

Jonah 1:1-2

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before Me.”

 

Truth #1: God is a God of the world.

 

God is concerned about all people coming to know, obey, and serve Him. The Jews are God’s chosen people, but they are chosen to be used by God to take Him to all the people of the world.

 

Jonah does not want to go to Nineveh because he hates the people of Nineveh and does not want them to repent. Jonah wants God to wipe them out. Jonah runs away and goes in the opposite direction that God is telling him to go.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing God as the God for all people as the one true God.

 

Jonah 1:4

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threated to break up.

 

Jonah 1:17

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and tree nights.

 

Truth #2: You cannot run away from God.

 

God did not give up on Jonah. God sent a storm to get Jonah and the ship crew’s attention. When Jonah was thrown overboard, God sent a big fish to swallow him and give him an extended period of time to consider where he was going and why.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is believing that God does not give up on us, that in fact He pursues us.

 

Jonah 3:1-3

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So, Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three day’s journey in breath.   

 

Truth #3: God is a God of grace.

 

Jonah had disobeyed God and run from Him. God pursued him and gave him a second chance. That is grace! God could have killed Jonah and selected someone else to go to Nineveh, but He did not. God stayed with Jonah and gave him another chance and Jonah obeyed.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing God as the God of grace and sharing His grace with others.  

 

Jonah 3:5-8

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, heard nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.”

 

Truth #4: God can use us even if our faith in not perfect and our desire is not strong.

 

Jonah went to Nineveh, but he still did not want the people of Nineveh to be saved. He was not enthusiastic about what God had called him to do. God wants us to obey. Our obedience opens up His power to work through us. So, even with incomplete faith and less than great desire, God can and will use us to accomplish His will.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is obeying God and allowing Him to use us in spite of our incompleteness.

 

Jonah 3:10

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it.  

 

Truth #5: God honors His word when we obey His word.

 

God sent Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh that they needed to repent. Jonah did not want to go because he knew that if the people repented God would not destroy them. And Jonah wanted them destroyed. God is faithful and will always do what He says that He will do.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is believing God and taking Him at His word.

 

Jonah leaves the city and sits and is angry at God and has a pity party. God enables a vine to grow and give shade and comfort to Jonah. God then sent a worm and a dry wind to kill the vine. Jonah is sad over the vine dying.

 

Jonah 4:10-11

And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?

 

Truth #6: God cares about people.

 

Jonah was upset that a vine that he had nothing to do with coming into being and had not labored to help it grow was dead. God says that He had pity on the people of Nineveh because He did bring them into existence and loved them and wanted them to know Him. God is concerned about people, not things. He wants people to know Him because He loves them and, in coming to know God, obey God, and serve God, it is the best for us.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living with the knowledge that God cares for you.

 

Learning the Truth by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                               Joe