December 11, 2022
“I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” Jonah 4:2b
“But in my distress, I cried out to the Lord; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.” Psalms 18:6
“And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:15-16
For this week’s devotional, I thought I would share our Bible Study Fellowship study led by Sheri Maibach from the book of Jonah, “The Reluctant Prophet.” After reading the book of Jonah over the years, God is still faithful, He is still speaking and His Word still stands! He continues to reveal more and more of Himself and who He is in each of our lives.
The book of Jonah is a beautiful and intriguing story of God’s call to Jonah and the reflection of the magnitude of His Call to us today as Believers in Christ. The synopsis of the book of Jonah reveals Jonah’s call, rebellion, message, and anger ~ echoing God’s heart, rescue, rebuke, and mercy! God’s call to us may be overwhelming and even frightening at times, however, it CANNOT be rejected without great cost.
The God of Israel commanded Jonah the Prophet from Israel to speak outside of Israel. God called him to go to Nineveh and warn the people of the coming destruction as well as His love and compassion for all people. Nineveh was a large city in Assyria, Israel’s northern neighbor. It was the capital city of Assyria an enemy nation. Jonah resisted God’s command to prophesy to the wicked people of Nineveh an enemy nation.
The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to escape the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Jonah 1:1-4 (NLT)
Jonah knew God required the Israelites to maintain purity in worship by keeping themselves separate and distinct from foreign nations. He recognized Israel’s distinctiveness as God’s chosen people and recipients of His mercy. Jonah struggled when God called him to speak against the wickedness and violence in Nineveh, mainly in part because of his bias against them. It repulsed Jonah because God would show compassion to such a brutal enemy. In his mind, they were the worst of the worst.
We like Jonah are so quick to judge one sin and not all SIN! Did Jonah forget about his own sin as he judged the Ninevites as being unworthy of God’s forgiveness? Every person in every nation stands in desperate need of God’s mercy. God cannot and will not be bound by human dividing lines. The mercy, love, and grace of God know no boundaries and He is not partial God!
This lesson caused me to take my eyes off Jonah and re-examine my own life and what God has called me to do! How obedient are you to the call of God on your life? How many people have you shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with this year? Do you shy away from certain people like the people of Nineveh? What defines your life? Do you go out of your way to share the love of Jesus with hurting people? Are you like Jonah who felt that there are people or people groups you think are beyond the reach of the gospel?
How do you view yourself and respond to those who are not like you? Do you stay in your safe cozy
surroundings and shield yourself within boundaries you have established for yourself? We like knowing where we belong, and we can wrongly draw dividing lines based on skin color, gender, ethnicity, economic status, or perceived power and intelligence. However, problems arise when the boundaries we create for ourselves separate us from others. Our personal comfort zones can lead us to pride and arrogance in the way we compartmentalize and relate to people who are different from us. Knowingly or unknowingly, our bias can prevent us from reflecting the heartbeat of God.
“Think of the most hardened and wicked sinners you know ~ YES, God Loves
Them. He has mercy and compassion on them. This truth
exceeds anything we could understand
or practice in our own strength!”
Nineveh’s repentance is illuminating for us as Believers in Christ today. Like Jonah we are commissioned to take the gospel of repentance and salvation to the nations of the world as noted in Mark 16:15-16; “And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.” Sadly, we often tend to even view others as “more sinful” than we are when, in fact, every human is a sinner.
A REPENTANT 
HEART: As Believers in Christ, we must be cognizant of how easily anger and resentment have a way of turning otherwise kind and compassionate people into cruel and vindictive people. That is one reason why the Word of God cautions us against allowing bitterness, jealousy, and hatred to remain in our hearts. These attitudes can seriously distort our values, turning them upside down so that we care more about things, getting even with others more than our own honor, our material well-being, or our national or ethnic pride ~ than we do about people.
Every human being bears God’s image. People around the world display beautiful diversity and fundamental unity. All people share the same serious problem ~ SIN! God’s deliberate purposes extend far beyond Israel’s borders. They extend to every nation, tribe, and language. All Believers in Christ gratefully participate in God’s plan of salvation that reaches all nations. Whatever your human descent, you can thank God that His plan included you.
FATHER GOD, Thank You for Your Word and Your perfect sacrifice on the cross to the world. Help us to be obedient to Your call on each of our lives to share the gospel with those who do not know You as Personal Lord and Savior, in the Precious, Powerful and Preeminent Name of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen.
