Ironically, Jonah would be happy that people remember him more for his sojourn inside a ‘whale’ than for what he really was: An incredibly effective preacher.
This is the man who converted the whole capital city of a ruthless empire with a one simple eight-word sermon: “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4).
From the first instant, Jonah knew that God was sending him on a successful mission. So, when Nineveh repented, Jonah couldn’t help but have an “I told you so!” moment:
“Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, and one who relents concerning calamity” (Jonah 4:2).
Jonah’s hate for the Assyrians was the same hate that filled the hearts of all Israelites at the time. He knew that no one in Israel would thank him for successfully preaching in Nineveh. Success to them was destruction.
As defiant as Jonah was, God had picked the right man for the job. Jonah was a man who knew God—he didn’t suffer from daydream doubts.
We can only imagine his spirit of toxic belligerence filling every word that he cried against the evil city. In his heart, he wanted them dead!
What would we do in Jonah’s place?
God is going to call you and me to be among people upon whom we would prefer harm than compassion. Like Jonah, we will be tempted to run.
But I pray that God is good to us as he was to Jonah. God disciplined him and sent him to his work. I pray that we too get the message that God’s will is to be done, despite our protestations.
To understand what the Lord’s will is—is to get on with it.
John Staiger
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