Tag: Jonah

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

The journey of a lifetime

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Brett Patzke on Unsplash

A few more “through the bible” thoughts from Jonah 1.

It’s a life and death situation when the sailors cast lots and find out Jonah is responsible for the raging storm that threatens to capsize the ship (Jonah 1:4,7). Jonah says, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9).

Wait a minute. Doesn’t Jonah’s story begins with his deliberate disobedience to God’s command to go to call out Nineveh for its evil? He doesn’t sound like someone who fears God. I guess Jonah didn’t fear God until the storm hit. Either than, or fear of God doesn’t equate to obedience.

Since “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31), “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). Just like us, Jonah had a lot to learn about God and a lot to learn about obeying God. It’s a journey. It’s a difficult journey. It’s the journey of a lifetime.

We don’t have to learn to fear God in dire circumstances, although those situations are a great classroom. But we learn from others, too. God’s people learned a lot of lessons that “were written down for our instruction” (1 Corinthians 10:11). Hopefully, we’ll learn to not make the same mistakes. In reality, though, we will, and we too will learn to fear God and maybe even obey him.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Ugly grace

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Liza Summer on Pexels

Some “through the bible” thoughts from the Old Testament book of Jonah.

After Jonah is thrown off the boat, swallowed by a fish, and spit up onto the beach, we find out why he didn’t want to go to Nineveh in the first place. Jonah says to God, “That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2).

God’s grace is wonderful when applied to our lives. It’s harder to swallow when he’s gracious to someone else, someone we know deserves to be punished.

I find it hard to understand how God could forgive people who have done atrocious things. This struggle reveals a shocking self-righteousness, as if there was nothing very sinful going on in my life.

The truth? I’m much more sinful than I realize. The ugliness of the cross reveals the ugliness of my sin, which Christ took on himself. Rather than thinking of myself as less-needful of grace, I’m need to be reminded I’m less deserving of grace than I thought.

The Jonah in me needs a regular reminder of God’s unlikely yet very real grace, mercy, and steadfast love.

Posted in Advent devotions

You can run, but you can’t hide

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash

When God gives Jonah the task of calling the city of Nineveh to repentance, he does his best to run away.

It turns out that it’s not that easy to run away from God. God sends a storm that threatens to capsize his ship. God sends a fish to swallow Jonah to keep him from drowning when he’s tossed into the sea. And when Jonah prays from the belly of the fish, God is there to answer him. Like David said in the psalm, no matter where you go, God’s already there (Psalm 139:7-10).

(My friend Gene from Denver believed Jonah said, “I never knew a fish had tonsils!”)

So Jonah taps out. He goes to Nineveh to warn them of God’s judgment. Believe it or not, the entire city repents. What a great reminder of the power of God’s word!

And what a great image of who Jesus will be. When religious leaders demanded that Jesus do a sign to validate his claim to be the Savior, he responds, “The only sign you’ll get is the sign of Jonah.” Just as Jonah returned from the depths after three days and nights in the belly of the fish, so Jesus would come back to life on the third day.

Jesus, God’s word in the flesh, also turned many from their sins back to God. His mercy and kindness moved many to repentance. His words brought those dead in sin back to life.

Jonah gets an ornament on the Jesse Tree because he’s a lot like the one who will save us from our sins: Jesus.