July 23, 2022 - Jonah 1-4

The Lord to Jonah: “Get up! Go . . .” (1:2). A student once stayed with us, and he left Donna and me a note, in which he wrote: “I pray the years ahead are the best years of your lives and marriage. I pray you both submit to the Lord’s will in your life and He uses you for His glory.”

Submission to God’s will. Wherever that leads. That was tough for Jonah, and often is tough for all of us. Of course, it was more than merely tough for Jonah. He ran! But he couldn’t run fast enough or far enough to get away from God!

So, “the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. ‘Get up! Go . . .’” (3:1). A second chance! And this time, Jonah went, though begrudgingly. But go he did! And the king and people of Nineveh turned from their evil ways and God relented from the judgment. God wanted to spare the city, and he wanted to do so by sending his prophet to preach to them. Even with an unwilling and grouchy prophet, God accomplished exactly what he intended. And what was his intention? To bring to himself many from the Assyrian city of Nineveh.

How great the mercy of God as displayed in his final statement to Jonah: “Should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?” (4:11).

I can hear my Savior calling,

I can hear my Savior calling,

I can hear my Savior calling,

“Take thy cross and follow, follow Me.”

Where He leads me I will follow,

Where He leads me I will follow,

Where He leads me I will follow,

I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way. --E. W. Blandly (19th century)