Last week we covered a little on Nineveh and why Jonah would not have wanted to go. As we dig into the first chapter of Jonah we see he did turn away from God’s calling and fled the opposite direction and got on a boat towards Tarshish. As the narrative goes, we know that a great storm came along and Jonah was thrown into the sea and a great fish swallowed him. He was in the stomach of the great fish, and now we arrive at the prayer. We don’t necessarily know how long Jonah was in the belly of the fish, but it totaled 3 days and 3 nights.
While Jonah was in the belly of the fish, we see his countenance change. He goes from bitter and running away from God, to calling out to God and submission to Him. We see in chapter 2 Jonah’s prayer, and it is a good one, and ends by Jonah saying, “That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD.” What did he vow to God? From chapter 3 it seems that he vowed to do what God called him, and go to Nineveh and speak out against it. We see in chapter 2 and 3 of the book of Jonah a great picture of repentance and submission.
Jonah who had run from what God told him to do, is now doing what he was commanded. He was actively defying God to now actively obeying Him. Jonah is now going to Nineveh to speak out against the evil that is in the city. It would seem that Jonah is back on the right track, but next week we’ll dive into the second half of chapter 3 and chapter 4, to see if it is so. Before I let you go, I do believe that we can all at time run from (or slowly walk away from) what God has called us to do, which is given us to us by Jesus when he said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NASB)
So I leave you with this question, are we following after the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20)? If not, let us repent and start.
Thanks for reading!
Pastor Josh