Series:
Reading 12 Old Testament Books
This post goes along with our study Reading Twelve Old Testament Books. You can purchase the workbook here: Study Guide for Reading Twelve Old Testament Books.
|Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish.| Jonah 2:1.
The LORD God sees the wickedness of Nineveh and commissions Jonah to go and prophesy against the nation. God’s message through Jonah to the people of Nineveh was a message of repentance or destruction. Jonah 3:4. This message resembles the same message Jesus brought to the people of Jerusalem, “Repent and believe for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Mark 1:15. However, Jonah did not immediately go to Nineveh. Instead, he decided to go the opposite direction to the city of Joppa and delay delivering the message of God. Jonah’s decision was one of disobedience to the will of God. He ends up praying for forgiveness from the belly of a fish.
Lacking Fear of Almighty God
Jonah knew God was compassionate, loving, and slow to anger. He was a God who relents when people truly repent. Because of Jonah’s lack of fear of the LORD, he ends up in the belly of disobedience.
As I type these words I am hit with much conviction. Anytime I am disobedient to the LORD it is a result of my own lack of fear, reverence for Almighty God.
It is so easy to point a finger at Jonah. Just remember when we point a finger there is always three pointing back at us. There is little room for name calling here but a great opportunity to learn from the disobedience of Jonah. What does it show you and me about our own hearts.? How do I apply the message of Jonah’s disobedience to my own life? I know I have cried out from the belly of disobedience more times than I care to count!
Praying to God in the Belly of Disobedience
Jonah deliberately disobeyed the LORD, the result, the Lord God appointed a great fish to swallow him up. Jonah 1:17. In our disobedience, we get swallowed up by distress and so many hardships. Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2 gives us a great visual of the trappings of disobedience. He describes his time in the belly of disobedience as being trapped, engulfed, headed in a downward spiral with no way of escape.
Do not let this truth escape your notice. God put Jonah in the belly of the fish and cast him into the deep. Jonah 1:17 and Jonah 2:3.
God is sovereign and His plan to send Jonah to Nineveh would happen. Jonah would spend a few days, three to be exact, under God’s hand of discipline.
Jonah remembered God in the midst of his distress and called out to Him for deliverance. For He knew God is the only one who can save. He repented of his disobedience and God delivered him from the belly of disobedience.
Deliverance From the Belly of Disobedience
|Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto dry land.| Jonah 2:10.
When Jonah remembered the LORD and repented of his sin against Him, God forgave and delivered him from his distress.
We see in Jonah chapter 3 God gives the word to Jonah a second time and Jonah goes to Nineveh with the message of repentance. I would think Jonah’s own deliverance would be fresh on his mind. For the same God which has compassion on the city of Nineveh is the same God who shows compassion, love, and mercy to Jonah.
When we cry out to God with true repentance, God hears and forgives. Jonah was disobedient to God’s call to go and prophecy to Nineveh. Are we guilty of this same disobedience? God commissions each believer to go into all the world with the message of the gospel. If you are a true believer at one time you were engulfed in the sin of disobedience. Going your own direction. Living your life, while all the while the wrath of God rested on your head of unrighteousness. God sent a messenger to you, to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Will you be that messenger to someone today?
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The world is closing (perhaps has closed) its’ ears to the Gospel. The Bible predicts such a time, when men will no longer tolerate truth, but prefer lies. Today we live in very deceptive and delusional times. Deception has snuck up on us and now is disclosing itself more brazenly in our society in North America. The church is not an exception to this deception. False prophets abound in the church today. Even churches who don’t acknowledge prophets are being deceived by popular religious teachers who claim to be biblical. Not all churches and teachers, but many. I think that this means we are coming to the end of repentance being granted to men from God. Wickedness is increasing at a rapid rate among the people populations of many countries. We are at the point where we must save ourselves from this wicked world. Repentance is still available and we need to get on track with the requirements of God. God will give space for us to do this, but we must be serious about asking God to change us into his image, and to make decisions in our lives based on the knowledge that we have of what is right and good. God will help us if we ask him to.
I totally agree, Lindam!! We are in a time of God’s grace where He is warning and warning. One day that warning will stop and judgment will come! The Bible says, “today is the day od salvation!”