i.e.the bible is all about stories of normal everyday problems happening to ordinary people like you
and me with some supernatural encounters
and experiences like supernatural healings or supernatural events like a donkey
talking (Numbers 22:21-35) or the sun-standing
still upon Gibeon (Joshua10: 12-14) or water turning into blood in Egypt(Exodus7:19-24)
or the parting of the Red Sea(Exodus 14:21-29) or Sarah giving birth to Issac
at 90(Genesis 21:1-8) or Daniel in lion's den(Daniel 6) and many many more.It is a very relatable book because the author
of it is God (2 Timothy 3:16) who came down and became a man,Jesus! Therefore 'Natural' situations mixed with 'Supernatural' events!
So
we come across stories of many who make mistakes and then regret making them
and repent but then repeat, sometimes unknowingly but most of the times
knowing completely it’s a mistake, just like us! We Regret, Repent and Repeat!
Jonah
was one such fellow who fled from God knowing completely he was disobeying ‘The Creator’! He himself is seen here in Jonah 1:v9, explaining his God to the fellow sailors on the ship .But inspite of knowing he still ran from that same God!
I
find Jonah quite amusing;very innocent and immature! He just says without
mumbling that I am running from God ,because of me the boat is facing this storm.so just throw me into the violent raging sea, I am the cause of your problem and here is its
solution too.(v10,v12). Not cunning at all or lying about anything to anyone
considering the sailors were absolute strangers who had no idea about him or his
place(v8) unlike Peter who lied and
denied knowing Jesus to total strangers 3 times!(Mark 14:66--72).Jonah could have
easily made up a lie but he didn’t!
A storm and a
smelly, sticky situation was required
for Jonah to spend some quality time with God. He got 3 days and 3 nights stay
in a fish’s belly to realize his mistake and repent .Only if he had obeyed God the very first time he could have avoided a storm and a random fish’s belly! His natural disobedience mixed with supernatural swallowing of a fish was needed for Jonah to remember God! We too are like Jonah, require a storm or an unimaginable, uncomfortable
situation ,at times, to be put in so that we can just look up and seek God first! And God,
naturally or supernaturally picks us up from the pit and carries us!
Here God called Jonah again,a second time, a second chance! Jonah 3:1 is a very hopeful verse
reassuring us that God will never give up on you.He will keep following you and do what he wants to
accomplish through you on earth no matter what you think of yourself,how little
you think of yourself and how far you run from God! He will use you as an
instrument for his kingdom! He has a plan and purpose for you!
The 2nd
time he obeyed God and went to Nineveh and told them God’s word of destroying
Nineveh because of its wickedness. The people
of Nineveh including the King believed God, put on sackcloths and fasted and
cried out to God and prayed and repented…so God did not bring disaster on them.(Jonah
3)
Now Jonah had a problem with that too!
He had a problem with God’s nature of being a compassionate and a gracious and
a loving God. A God who forgave the people easily!(Jonah 4:2). He
conveniently forgot that this very same
nature of God “forgave “him in the first place when he disobeyed and ran to the
opposite direction! God had compassion on him when he cried out and repented! God did not get angry with
Jonah’s behavior but when the Ninevites (others)repented and cried out to God for forgiveness and mercy,he got
angry about it! . Very
much like us!
Patient God did not yell back ‘Unbelievable Jonah! I just forgave you, and you are asking me
to not heed to their cry for forgiveness but to destroy them’. Instead he just
explained everything to him through an example
of a plant(Jonah 4:5-11)
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