So Jonah arrived in Nineveh with a short but sharp message: 'Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.' There is certainly simplicity in the message. Jonah probably reckoned that if God can save him after being in the fish for three days and nights then God could save him from an angry Assyrian reception! At the end of the day, God is simply after people who will listen, rise and obey. The Bible says that 'Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power' (Psalm 110:3). He also would have been amazed at God's power. Why the change do you think? There is no doubt that Jonah would have been grateful for God's mercy that had just been shown to him. There is just simple obedience this time. There is no dilly-dally, no thinking it through or weighing up the options. This time there is no argument from Jonah to the command of God. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." (4) On the first day, Jonah started into the city. Now Nineveh was a very important city-a visit required three days. Jonah 3:3-4 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. All He was interested in at this point in time is in the obedience of His servant Jonah to do that which He had asked of him. Why is that? Why doesn't God say very much? The answer is that He wants us to walk by faith one day and step at a time, trusting Him for each new circumstance that comes our way. it will be amazing!' No, God doesn't tell Jonah how things will turn out even though He knows. He doesn't say 'Now Jonah, this is going to be amazing! I've peeped into the future and you'll go there, march through the city saying that I'm going to destroy it all in 40 days and they will actually repent! From the King down to the lowest servant. God doesn't say very much does He! He doesn't lay the whole plan out. I also wanted to point what God says in the 're-commissioning' of Jonah in verse 2. But he also would have found that God is the God of the third chance as soon as he turned his heart again to the Lord. Now what do you think would have happened if Jonah had run away again? Well, he would have had to face the consequences of his own choice and act as he did the first time. I'll let you think for a while and add a few names in the footnote. Can you think of any characters who would testify to God's faithfulness in this way? You'll find that many of the 'big names' of the Bible would testify to this. There are numerous cases in the Bible where God has proven Himself to be the God of second chances. What an awesome merciful God we serve! Without wanting to justify our times of failure, unbelief and straight out disobedience, I am thankful nonetheless that our God knows what we are made of, that we are fallen, and maintains His faithfulness even in the face of our ever abundant weakness and at times shaky commitment. It's like God looks past the whole episode of Jonah running away and just brings to him back to the place where they left off when Jonah was last walking in faith. Here we see the graciousness and patience of God who not only restores His prophet back from the place of death and onto dry land, but also re-commissions him with the original plan for His life. Jonah 3:1-2 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: (2) Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you. Ok, let me pre-empt the emails by saying that I won't give up the day job! This chapter and bible study lesson then is about the restored Jonah following God's original plan for his life and preaching to those in Nineveh. So obeying the Lord, he goes off to preach, a prophet he is, though smelly and bleachedĪnd after long travel and not looking so flash, Nineveh repents. Yet still in faith he lifts up his voice, and in God his Saviour, he does rejoice.Īnd like a spud, shot straight from the gun, he's restored to life, back under the sun With Jonah swallowed, now nowhere in sight, his future is bleak, not looking so bright
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