I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
JONAH 4:2
Although in some countries military service is compulsory for every young man and woman between the ages of 18 and 25, currently young people join the U.S. military only by enlisting. Yet when I was a young girl, the U.S. draft—a way of conscripting men into military service since the Civil War—was still in force. Regardless of their opinion concerning the war’s cause, men in that time were recruited, trained, placed in a platoon, and sent into battle.
The draft was employed as a means of recruitment during both World Wars, as well as for the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. Married or not, men of age were required to register for service, and they could be called to duty at a moment’s notice. As an incentive to enlistment, those men who voluntarily signed up were allowed to choose the branch of the military they would serve in and commissioned to better posts, but anyone who illegally avoided their duty to serve in the armed forces was considered a “draft dodger.”
In 1968 Richard Nixon ran for president of the United States on the platform of ending the draft. He believed an army made up of soldiers who believed in the cause of the conflict and voluntarily enlisted in the service would make for a better and stronger military.
In 1971 the draft was officially put to rest. To this day, however, men are still required by law to register with the Selective Service System when they’re 18 and to be ready to defend the United States of America.
As a member of God’s kingdom, grace is not always a voluntary enlistment. God will often draft us into His service of grace. He will commission us to grace, press us to grace, minister grace through us, reveal the power of grace to us, and all the while teach us lessons about His great grace.
The Grace Call (Jonah 1:1-5)
The Bible’s book of Jonah begins with God’s call to the prophet Jonah. Jonah was from the town of Gath in Israel, and he had come to prominence because of the fulfillment of a prophecy he’d announced to the nation. Though the king of Israel, Jeroboam, was wicked in the eyes of the Lord, he nevertheless had reigned over the land prosperously for 41 years. Second Kings 14:25 tells us, “[Jeroboam] restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of Arabah, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.” No doubt this positive word from the Lord put Jonah in good standing with the Israelites.
The nation had a dreaded enemy at the time—the Assyrians. They were known for the cruelty they inflicted on their adversaries. Uncovered in archaeological digs are reliefs depicting gruesome punishments meted out to their enemies. Among those ghastly scenes are beheadings and burnings. The capital of the barbaric Assyrian Empire was Nineveh.
Imagine Jonah’s dismay when the word of the Lord came to him. God’s previous message to Jonah had concerned the prosperity of Israel. This new message had to do with warning the city of Nineveh against divine judgment. God said to Jonah, “ ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me’ ” (1:2).
The good works of Nineveh’s citizens didn’t come up before God, nor their sorrow, innocence, or even their ignorance. No! It was their wickedness. No redeemable quality existed in Nineveh to merit the grace of God. The draw was their wickedness. Here were a people utterly set for destruction. They needed to know the saving grace of God.
Jonah, as a patriot of Israel, didn’t want Nineveh saved. He wanted God to destroy it. Have you ever felt that way about your enemies? If so, then you understand how Jonah must have felt. The Assyrians were a constant threat to Israel. They were always conspiring to invade, conquer, and pillage the land of Jonah’s people.
Jonah thought he could run from this commission. You might think of him as the original draft dodger. Reaching Nineveh required a journey over land, traveling northeast of Israel. Jonah went in the opposite direction and by the opposite means. The reluctant prophet went west, to the port of Joppa. There he purchased passage on a boat heading toward Tarshish, which was about as far away as anyone could get from Nineveh. (Most scholars believe Tarshish was an ancient port on the coast of Spain.)
Jonah sought lodging in the lowest part of the ship, believing he could hide from God’s call in its hold. But no sooner was the vessel out to sea than “the Lord sent out a great wind” and “a mighty tempest” arose (1:4). As the sailors on the ship struggled to save it, Jonah slept, unaware of the danger his behavior had foisted on the crew.
Jonah’s refusal to heed the grace call had incurred the wrath of God. Wrath is the actual consequence of disobeying God’s law. The wrath Jonah wanted to descend on his enemies was now in full fury against the very men who were trying to save him and the ship by jettisoning cargo and expending all their energies.
Refusing the call to grace always presents a danger. God is determined to call us to grace, and He is committed to using whatever means necessary to cause us to embrace His call. When we refuse grace, however, the same oblivion that encapsulated Jonah encapsulates our minds and hearts. We, like Jonah, sleep because we fail to realize we’ve been sustained by God’s grace our whole lives. We sleep because we don’t realize how dangerous and desperate a life devoid of divine grace is. We sleep because we don’t realize a refusal of God’s grace is a choice for God’s wrath. This is the perilous sleep of ignorance, and there can be no grace for others until we recognize how destitute we ourselves are without it. While we sleep, the lives of others are imperiled.
In 1850, Hudson Taylor, a young medical student in England, heard the call to grace. His mind and spirit were suddenly awakened by the knowledge that hundreds of men and women were perishing in China without the gospel. In 1853, he postponed his education and traveled to China, where he chose to live as the Chinese people lived. He dressed as they dressed, learned to speak Chinese, and lived among them. Later he returned to England to convince other young men and women to take the gospel of grace to China. He said, “Can all the Christians in England sit still with folded arms while these multitudes are perishing—perishing for lack of knowledge—for lack of knowledge which England possesses so richly?”1
God’s grace awakened Hudson Taylor to the peril of those without Christ. He was stirred by the thought of men and women fighting the storms of life without knowing the God of All Grace.
I know many people who would rather sleep and leave men and women to perish in unbelief because they’re more concerned for their personal comfort than for the salvation of others. They’re the ultimate nationals and patriots of their self-cause. They condemn the very mission field God has placed them in.
This was not the case for my husband’s dear friend Al Braca. Al was a loving, gracious, and outspoken Christian. Everyone at his workplace knew how important his faith was to him, but some of them were determined to undermine and mock his faith. It wasn’t uncommon for Al to turn on his computer and find someone had posted a pornographic image. These same persecutors loved to watch his face when they told a dirty joke. Al found it hard to “love your enemies” and to “do good to those who hate you” (Matthew 5:44).
One day before leaving for work, Al asked his wife, Jean, to pray with him. “God has shown me my work is my mission field,” he told her, “so we need to pray together before I go out that door.” From that day forward Jean and Al got on their knees every morning and prayed for Al’s company, for his coworkers, and for Al to be able to manifest God’s grace to others. It worked! God gave him an extra portion of grace to endure his coworkers’ barbs and consistently shower them with kindness.
Soon Al was calling Jean from work on a weekly basis to say he would be home late because he needed to minister to someone at work. Al became the go-to guy at the office when someone was in turmoil. Al listened. Al cared. Al prayed.
Al worked for a company in New York City with offices in the Twin Towers. On the morning of September 11, 2001, he and Jean prayed together, and then Al went to work and sat down at his desk in the North Tower. Soon the building was rocked by the force of a Boeing 767-223ER when it crashed into it ten floors below, killing all 92 people aboard. Realizing death was inevitable, Al’s coworkers rushed to him. He directed them to join hands then he explained the reality of heaven and how by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, they could all accompany him there that day. Then Al led the whole assembly in a prayer before the North Tower gave way and crumbled to the ground.
For days after the towers collapsed, Al’s wife received phone calls from relatives of those who had died with Al. They read a variety of texts and related the last phone conversations they had with their loved ones, explaining what Al had done. One of the most notable texts said, “Going to heaven with Al Braca.”
What if Al had been numb to the peril of his coworkers that day? What if he had viewed them as enemies rather than potential recipients of God’s grace? A whole company of individuals in heaven is now sitting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If asked how they got there, they’ll answer, “With Al Braca, of course!”
Exposed! (Jonah 1:6-16)
One of the worst Christian witnesses is graceless behavior. Nothing is more humiliating than to act in a graceless manner, only to have it discovered you’re a Christian!
My father, a pastor, loved to tell the story about a woman in front of him at the grocery store. She was yelling at the checkout clerk over some perceived mistake. The clerk was calm and absorbing the fury, but the woman continued by showering the hapless employee with a variety of expletives. Then she turned to pour a bit of her rage on the people behind her in line. That’s when she saw my dad. “Chuck!” she cried with an element of surprise and shame commingling.
Dad gave her one of his brilliant smiles. “Hello there. Sounds like you’re having a pretty bad day. Like you need to make sure you don’t miss next Sunday’s message about loving one another.” The woman tried to stammer some excuse as she gathered her groceries, and then she fled the store.
The captain of the ship found Jonah fast asleep while his men were desperately fighting the violent storm and praying to their pagan gods for help. Jonah was brought to the deck, where because they recognized a spiritual force behind the terrible tempest, the hardened mariners were trying to determine the spiritual cause of the storm. They cast lots to see who was to blame for such a catastrophe. The lot fell on Jonah.
Immediately, the men began to question him: “ ‘Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?’ ” (1:8).
Jonah had to admit, “ ‘I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land’ ” (1:9). Jonah was confessing to these men that his God was the One who had power over the storm. The storm was happening because Jonah had tried to hide from the Lord. The men were beyond afraid and asked Jonah why he would do such a thing! Why would he run away and try to hide from such a powerful God?
Here’s the factual answer Jonah probably didn’t give: “I ran because I have no grace for people like you. I care more about my own comforts and my own people than I do about the people who are perishing because they don’t know the living God of Israel.”
No, I don’t think Jonah confessed everything, because when he told these men the way to stop the storm was to throw him overboard, they were reluctant to do it. If they had known his true motivation, they might have been less reluctant!
The seamen made one last effort to save the ship. Then having exhausted every other method, they prayed to the Lord, “ ‘Please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You’ ” (1:14). Having made their peace with God, they threw Jonah into the raging sea, and immediately the storm stopped!
Grace is one of the best ways to avoid humiliation. Proverbs 3:34 states, “Surely He scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble.” Jonah’s scorn for his enemies brought the scorn of the seamen, and Jonah was found out.
He was caught sleeping.
He was caught numb and ignorant to the peril of others.
He was caught as a “draft dodger”—running from God’s call.
He was caught as the one who had jeopardized the ship and crew.
He was caught as a hypocrite, the disobedient prophet of God who told others to obey God while he disobeyed Him.
Another Proverb states, “A gracious woman retains honor” (Proverbs 11:16). Conversely, a woman who doesn’t act graciously won’t retain honor. Graceless behavior will always lead to humiliation.
The men on the ship came to know the living God despite Jonah’s graceless behavior. Only through his humiliating confession, however, did these men learn the true cause of their peril and the life-saving power of the God of the Hebrews.
Grace the Hard Way (Jonah 1:17–2:10)
God’s chastening is often His way of teaching the greatest lessons of grace. Hebrews 12:10-11 says, “[Our fathers] indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but [God] for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Chastening is part of God’s grace. God refused to let Jonah go. He pursued Jonah. He continued to work with Jonah. He allowed Jonah to suffer the hard way so he could learn vital lessons about His grace.
The prophet didn’t perish in the raging sea, though, because “the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah” (1:17). That might not seem like a mercy to you, but God loved this wayward prophet, and He was thinking of his welfare. Jonah was developing some bad patterns in his life. As a prophet, he had the privilege of hearing God’s word and sharing it with people. Yet Jonah thought he could ignore the word of God he didn’t want to hear. He thought he could choose where and when not to obey God. He thought he could continue to harbor hatred in his heart, even when God was calling him to grace. These would be dangerous patterns in anyone’s life, but they were lethal to someone representing the God of Israel!
The “great fish” spared Jonah’s life. Jonah spent a miserable three days and three nights in the hot moisture of its belly, a type of hell for the prophet. It was a foretaste of where those who refuse God’s saving grace would end up. As he prayed to the Lord, Jonah testified, “ ‘The floods surrounded me; all Your billows and Your waves passed over me… The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever’ ” (2:3-6).
Let’s imagine his experience. He was cramped. Gastric juices enveloped him. The stench of the belly fluids nauseated him. He felt every plunge, turn, and movement of the fish. Seaweed constricted his whole body. He was trapped in a stinky, watery, acidic, confining, and swirling dungeon.
Is this the type of place you want others to go to? When I experience something miserable, I warn others—even people I don’t know. Before this experience, Jonah was callous and indifferent to the eternal destiny of others.
Jonah prayed and was heard by God even from the depths of the ocean floor. Now, that’s grace! God not only heard Jonah’s prayer, but He regarded the prayer of the disobedient prophet.
Jonah recognized his folly. He said, “ ‘Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy’ ” (2:8). The Hebrew word used here for idol is hebel. A better translation is “vanity” or “lies.” In other words, Jonah realized he’d believed worthless lies. He’d believed he could disobey God successfully. He’d believed he could refuse the call of God. He’d believed he could run from God. He’d believed he could hide from God. In running and trying to hide, he had forsaken his own mercy, or to state it plainly, he’d brought all this trouble on himself.
Jonah vowed to sacrifice to God. He vowed to obey God. He would relinquish his comforts, his way, and his self-will to God. Now, mind you, he did promise this while he was in the belly of the fish. I’ve seen people promise to obey God when the consequences of their bad choices begin to close in on them. Many times, however, these people go right back to their worthless idols as soon as the pressure is off.
God spoke to the fish, and it heaved Jonah onto dry ground.
This isn’t the way I want to learn grace. What about you? Yet the Lord will at times give us a foretaste of the misery of sin and sinners so we’ll have greater grace. It’s been said that earth is the closest a Christian will ever be to hell but also the closest an unbeliever will ever be to heaven. That’s a sobering thought that should motivate us to grace.
I’ve heard Christians too easily condemn people to hell. Anyone who claims to know Jesus and can blithely do that should be looking over their shoulder for a “great fish.”
God wanted to show Jonah the expedience of grace. For three days and three nights, he experienced life without grace. It was a hard lesson, but so necessary. God wants to teach you the glory of grace. He wants you to have His heart of grace. He’s the One who looked down on the rebellious earth and “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Second-Chance Grace (Jonah 3)
A speaker I once heard said, “God is the God of the second, third, fourth, and billionth chance.” God’s grace continues to be extended to everyone throughout the duration of their lives. This truth was brought home to me when I interviewed a young pastor’s wife. She and her husband have a thriving ministry, and I asked how she came to know the Lord.
She told me she was brought up in a tumultuous home. Her mother and father regularly indulged in hard drugs, and the family experienced constant violence until her father left home. Then her mother took up with one drug-addicted boyfriend after another. The young woman I interviewed left home at an early age. By her late teens she was an unwed mother, a prostitute, and looking at some serious jail time.
In prison she gave her life to the Lord. Once back out on the streets, however, she retracted the commitment she made, and it wasn’t long until she was back in prison. Again, she made a commitment to the Lord. This commitment was a bit stronger, as was her sentence. She dedicated her time behind bars to Bible study, prayer, and growing in the Lord. Before her release, she was warned to abandon her old boyfriend and give her all to Jesus.
Yet once out, within days she’d taken up with her old boyfriend. For a time they went to church and studied the Word together, but then they began to fall back into old patterns and both were incarcerated.
Back for the third time, she thoroughly repented. She promised to give God everything regardless of the difficulties ahead. Again, she was released, and again she committed herself to Bible study and fellowship, but also to accountability. So did her old boyfriend. They tried to ignore their attraction to each other, but they couldn’t and decided to get married. Knowing their past history and weaknesses, they prayed for more grace and more strength to grow in the Lord. They both attended Bible college and graduated. Within a few years, he was offered the pastorate of a small church in a bad part of town. After talking with his wife and much prayer, he accepted the commission with grace. They’re still there, and God has used them to minister to countless lives just like theirs. Why? Because God is the God of the second, third, fourth, and a billion chances.
As we pick up the story of Jonah, the word of the Lord comes to him a second time. God gives him the same commission He’d given him before the whale ride: “ ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you’ ” (3:2). This time “Jonah arose and went to Nineveh” (3:3).
The ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh were uncovered by Sir Austen Layard in the nineteenth century. Since that time the site has been extensively excavated, and what these archaeologists uncovered is extraordinary! Nineveh was a walled city about a mile and a half wide and approximately three miles long. One of its longer walls ran parallel with the Tigris River. The walls surrounding Nineveh were 40 to 50 feet high and stretched eight miles around the inner city. The city contained its own water system with one of the oldest aqueducts in history. Unearthed was a 71-room palace with walls of sculptured slabs. A library housed more than 22,000 clay tablets. The city contained many temples to the pagan gods they worshiped.
It took Jonah three days to walk through that entire city. When he entered it on the first day, he began to cry out, “ ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown’ ” (3:4).
The people believed Jonah and the message from God. They proclaimed a fast, and all the residents, from the least to the greatest, put on mourning clothes. When word of Jonah’s message reached the king, he laid aside his royal robes, donned mourning garments as well, and issued an edict that was proclaimed throughout the city:
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? (3:7-9).
Now that’s repentance! That’s one successful evangelistic endeavor!
God’s grace poured over Nineveh when He saw their works and how they had turned from their evil ways. Nineveh did what the nation of Israel refused to do—they heeded the word of the prophet. How gracious of God to forgive Jonah, chasten Jonah, reinstate His call to Jonah, and bless Jonah’s mission.
God has a grace call for all of us. He desires to use us as ministers and dispensers of His grace. As He did with Jonah, He will constrain us by whatever means necessary to bring us into that call.
God’s call always contains God’s purpose. He doesn’t call us in vain, but into the work He plans to do. Through His call He allows us to be partakers in His grace.
Even when we refuse, try to run away, and reject the call of God, He doesn’t refuse, run away from, or reject us. He continues to hunt us down with His grace, and when we’re ready, He calls us again into His purposes.
Another Lesson in Grace (Jonah 4)
You would think the prophet would be overjoyed by the repentance of Nineveh. This was greater success than any of the prophets in Israel had obtained. The Ninevites believed the word of God through Jonah and repented and turned from their evil ways. But Jonah wasn’t happy about that! Jonah 4:1 records that “it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.” He resented the grace of God.
Some people don’t want God’s grace extended to others. I’d like to say I don’t understand that attitude, but I do. For a time, in my heart I had a collection of people I felt deserved the grace of God. Outside that “grace club,” however, were those people I didn’t want to receive good things from God. I didn’t necessarily want them punished; I just didn’t want them blessed by God’s grace. How’s that for a misunderstanding of grace?
It all came to a head one day, when I, the president of the grace club, violated every ordinance and principle I had set up. It was a bad day—one of my worst days yet. I had to resign from the presidency and membership of my own grace club, or more accurately, I was kicked out.
I remember blubbering before the Lord that day. I was shocked at my own behavior. I was so angry with myself. I really had expected better things of the president of the grace club. But God spoke to me so gently, and I still remember the sweet impression He left on my heart: Cheryl, I never liked your grace club. I never joined it. I’m glad it’s over. Grace isn’t for just a few deserving people. By its very nature, grace is for all those who don’t deserve it, so here’s some grace for you.
God forgave me and disbanded the grace club forever in my heart!
So, yes, I understand Jonah’s attitude. I’ve had some of those feelings myself. Ugh. Jonah didn’t want the Ninevites spared, let alone repentant, saved, and shown mercy. He wanted to see them judged for all their past cruelties to Israel.
Can you imagine saying to God, “I told You so!” That seems like the height of arrogance, and yet that’s exactly what Jonah did, though not in so many words: “ ‘Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm’ ” (4:2).
Rather than appreciating and embracing the grace of God, Jonah was angry. It seems like he had developed his own grace club. He wanted God’s grace extended toward him and Israel, but not toward the Ninevites. That’s what I call selective grace. I’ve met believers like that. They claim to know the God of All Grace and are recipients of that divine grace, but they don’t like seeing God show grace to others! They have a list of stipulations and regulations about to whom God should and should not show grace.
Jonah resented God’s grace toward Nineveh, and he was so angry he wanted to die: “ ‘Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!’ ” (4:3). That’s a strong reaction! Yet observe God’s grace toward Jonah. Jonah’s prayer is like a backward compliment. On the one hand he’s justifying his disobedience in fleeing to Tarshish, and at the same time he’s angry with God for His grace, mercy, and lovingkindness! What grace for God to allow the prophet to talk to Him in this manner. If God were not gracious, merciful, and full of lovingkindness, Jonah’s prayer would have toasted him!
On a side note, isn’t it wondrous how honest we can be with God? He doesn’t want our false affections; He wants authenticity. Our God desires “truth in the inward parts” (Psalm 51:6). In His grace, He receives our honest prayers, even when we’re angry and confused, have the facts wrong, or are demanding the wrong things. By His grace, God is able to hear, amend, purify, and answer our prayers with the perfect response.
God asks Jonah, “ ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ ” (4:4). God is about to teach this angry prophet one more lesson about grace.
Jonah goes outside the city and camps on the east side. The prophet is still hoping for judgment, and this is an unhealthy place to be camped. I’ve known people preoccupied and even obsessed with the judgment of others. They tend to camp at a certain place spiritually, emotionally, and mentally, and they can’t be moved. Their minds and hearts are always focused on judgment. And when judgment tarries or isn’t carried out, they, like Jonah, are miserable and angry with God.
Even as the Lord prepared a great fish to teach Jonah a lesson in grace, He prepared a plant, a worm, and an east wind for Jonah’s final lesson. It’s almost like a flannelgraph lesson. God uses these unusual elements to teach the angry prophet about His gentleness, kindness, and mercy.
As Jonah sat on the outskirts of Nineveh, God prepared a plant to spring up and bring some shade to Jonah from the merciless heat. Jonah was grateful for the plant. The next morning, however, God prepared a worm to damage the plant so it would wither. Jonah not only lost his only source of shade, but God prepared an aggressively strong and hot east wind to beat on Jonah’s head. Jonah was so miserable in that graceless place he wished for death. “ ‘It is better for me to die than to live!’ ” he said (4:3).
Again, God was bringing Jonah to the place of grace. It took absolute misery for Jonah to appreciate and embrace God’s grace. It took discomfort and the misery of being in a grace-forsaken place for him to recognize the necessity and mercy of grace.
God asked the prophet a second time, “ ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ ”—this time about the plant (4:9). Jonah again justified himself. “ ‘It is right for me to be angry, even to death!’ ” (4:9). That’s some attitude!
The plant provided shade for Jonah, so Jonah received the plant into the grace club. For Jonah, grace was to be extended only to those people and things that added to his comfort. He thought his perception of grace was acceptable. It was not, and God wanted Jonah to understand the depths of His grace. Jonah had pity for a plant whose duration was short-lived. However, he had no grace or pity for the 120,000 people in Nineveh who could “not discern between their right hand and their left” (4:11). God had compassion on these people, and He wanted His prophet to share His affection.
We’re not specifically told in Scripture, but something must have dawned in Jonah’s heart. No doubt he wrote down this tremendous lesson of grace to share it with the people of Israel when he returned to his homeland.
Are you ready to enlist in the battle of grace? Are you ready to disband your “grace club” to see the lost and undeserving receiving the grace of God? God is calling you into His service of grace. Are you going to go voluntarily? Or will you have to be conscripted into the reserves of His grace?
Lord, I find my own testimony in the life of Jonah. You know the times I’ve tried to hide and run away from Your call of grace. I pray that You’ll forgive me. Grace is so important to You. It’s a part of Your nature. You are gracious. You are merciful. You are abundant in lovingkindness. You want to manifest Your grace to the world, and You desire to call me into this grace service with You. Teach me the riches of Your grace. Give me an appreciation of Your grace. Help me embrace Your grace. Grant me the grace to forgive my enemies and seek to see them receive Your grace. I want to enlist in Your army of grace. I want to be an ally of grace. In the name of Jesus, who brought Your grace to all mankind, amen.
For consideration:
1. With which of these ways can you relate to Jonah’s life?
• trying to hide from God’s call
• running from God’s call
• chastening
• second chances
• learning the lesson of grace
2. Compare Jonah’s experience in the belly of the great fish (Jonah 2:2-6) with Jesus’s description of hell in Mark 9:48. Why should Christians not be quick to pray for judgment?
3. What lessons do you observe about grace from Jonah’s life?
4. What is your lasting impression about God’s grace toward Nineveh?