God’s Dealings With Man: A Study of Prophet Jonah – Part 3

Posted by davidluiz in Daily Devotional, Featured, Messages

Next, we will consider a lesson which in my opinion is one of the most important in the book of Jonah. I consider the book one of the most fascinating of all the books of the bible because we see how God literally “set up” Jonah for lesson after lesson. First, we see this in chapter 1:

“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.” Jonah 1:3-4

And then towards the end of the first chapter again, we see another act of intervention from the Lord:

“So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:15, 17

LESSON 5:

There is a pattern that runs through the above two scriptures. That is the pattern of God’s sovereign intervention and creation of scenarios to teach Jonah. The scriptures say that the storm that forced the sailors to throw Jonah overboard was sent by God himself. It also says that the Lord prepared a fish to swallow Jonah up once he was thrown overboard. This pattern is even more obvious in the fourth chapter of Jonah as seen in the following scriptures:

“Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4:4-8

In the above passage of scripture again, we see a rare display of God’s sovereignty as he prepared situation after situation for Jonah to pass through. However, it is worthy of note that these were not just situations orchestrated without purpose. The Lord created the scenarios so Jonah could understand why he was so concerned about the people of Nineveh even though they were not his people.

We learn a great lesson from this section of the book of Jonah: that God is sovereign and is able to do anything to anyone, however and in whatever manner he so desires. This is particularly important to note when we face challenges. We should seek to find out what the Lord is trying to teach us through those circumstances. It is however important to mention that even though God is sovereign, he has decided to hold himself accountable by the Words he has spoken in the bible. He will not deviate from them or go against the things he has said he will never do. Also, we must understand that God will never use sickness or poverty to teach his children anything. These are our heritage by birth. A certain wise man put it in these fine words: “Heaven is not so bankrupt as to use the resources of hell to teach God’s children.”

In conclusion, the summary of the book of Jonah makes us understand that God does have personal relationships with his servants; a relationship beyond his using them to prophesy. God would rather have a close father son relationship with each of us. We notice that Jonah was free to express his own opinions and desires however wrong they were, yet God went out of his way to teach Jonah and show him through experience how He felt as God. God does this with us severally without our noticing. It is my hope that through our understanding of these truths, we will learn to have a deeper walk with God.

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