The Book of Jonah is one of the many books in the bible. It is a beautiful narrative of how Jonah, an Israelite and a Prophet of God, tried to run away from doing God’s will and how God showed his might and mercy. At a closer look, you would find out that it is actually a story about God’s unconditional and wondrous love and mercy. God is slow to anger and abounding in love and mercy. Well, this text is aimed at revealing to us some negative attitudes we may be sharing with Jonah, which we must desist from.
- Jonah disobeyed God and tried to run away from God.
“Go at once to Nineveh…” was God’s command but Jonah went the opposite direction. It is common to see people who disobey God, but running away from God is a whole new level. How do you run from the maker of heaven and earth, the skies and seas? Psalm 24:1 says the world and all that is in it belongs to the Lord. Hence, how far can you go? The question is – why did Jonah disobey? Why was he trying to run away?
2. Jonah puts his will above God’s will.
The stories of the bible teach us that the great men of faith are those who where able to give in to God’s will. Jonah disobeyed God because he was not happy with God’s plan. Jonah walked away from God’s plan of salvation for the people of Nineveh. Now you may be wondering – what did Jonah want?
3. Jonah’s way of judgement is different from God’s
Nineveh was a capital city in the Assyrian Empire. The people of Nineveh were enemies to the people of Israel. It was Jonah’s desire that Nineveh should be destroyed. Jonah was sure that if the people of Nineveh repented no destruction would be fall them, so he decided not to preach the message of God to them. For Jonah, his judgement for his enemies should be instant – should be that of destruction. For God, his judgement was slow to anger and abounding in mercy and love. You may be thinking, what must have prompted Jonah to desire such judgement for his enemies?
4. No one can monopolize God
Jonah came from a people who believed that salvation belonged to them alone talk less of their enemies, hence his judgement was harsh to the people of Nineveh. In one statement, Jonah tried to monopolize God. Before we condemn Jonah, we are Jonahs in different ways and are guilty of the points mentioned above because we are engulfed with this notion that God should forgive us when we sin but others should be condemned. we sometimes feel that the evil committed by others are more grievous than ours. We just want to monopolize God! The belief that other tribes, race, belief, tongue or colour have no access, or do not deserve same right or access to the Almighty God is an attempt to reduce God to the product of our consciousness alone. Jonah who disobeyed God and received God’s mercy when he repented became sad when God showed his mercy to the people of Nineveh after they repented. God is the creator of all, loves all and desires the salvation of all! And what more was Jonah’s negative attitude?
5. Jonah placed lesser value for life
Again, Prophet Jonah shows a character, which I must confess, confused me at a point but at a closer look I saw a reflection of myself in the attitude that Jonah displayed. How much attention and value do we have for the suffering and dying around us while we pay more attention to our dogs, cats, plants, cars, possession, vacations, pleasures and other things of lesser value? Do we at any point wish for the death of our enemies? Now we must know that God values life even that of the sinner!
Kingdom Call
One interesting thing about this story of Jonah is that as a prophet of God you would have expected him to be more knowledgeable about God, more disciplined and display a more positive attitude – in three words – a holier person. Jonah is an interesting choice of a prophet… so are you and so am I. No one is perfect but yet we must do the will of God in our lives but how do we fare.
Jonah’s undoing was rooted in his desire to go against God’s will. He didn’t attempt to understand or accept God’s will. Part of God’s will is that we must be sensitive, even to our enemies… we must seek the salvation of all… Our slogan should be – Let God’s Will Be Done! And then, God kingdom would be established in your life.
God Bless You!