Coincidence or for a Purpose?Sýnishorn

Jonah

The book of Jonah begins with a very clear command from God to his prophet—go and preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. God wanted to use Jonah to see Nineveh go from being the sinful city that it was to one seeking His forgiveness. For some reason that the Bible doesn’t make clear, Jonah didn’t want to do what God had asked. Like we are all guilty of at times, Jonah’s plan was different than God’s. 

Instead of going to Nineveh Jonah went in the opposite direction in what he knew was blatant disobedience to God. God could have given up on Jonah and chose someone else to accomplish His plan but instead He pursued him. Jonah goes from his boat of disobedience to the belly of a fish that the Bible says God had prepared. 

In Jonah 2 we actually get a glimpse of the prayer Jonah prayed in what is now a miraculous story taught to anyone who has ever sat in a children’s Sunday school class. That prayer of Jonah is not one of asking God for deliverance nor is it one telling God why he is right in not wanting to preach to Nineveh. Instead, Jonah’s prayer is one of seeking God’s forgiveness—a prayer of repentance. 

A failure that is sinful enough for God to have you swallowed by a fish is a failure that many of us cannot see anything good coming from. Apparently, that’s because we’re not God. 

In Jonah 3 God once again makes clear His desire for Jonah’s life—go and preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. Do you see the purpose God brought about from Jonah’s failure and sin? Jonah sinned. Jonah suffered consequences. Jonah sought repentance from the hand of God. And because Jonah had just experienced repentance, he was now willing to preach that very same thing to the people of Nineveh. 

Can you imagine what affect Jonah’s appearance and testimony might have had on the people to whom he was preaching? “You better repent and ask God’s forgiveness. I just had a giant fish swallow me and then vomit me up after three days,” he might have said.

Once again God brought purpose from a failure we would have written off as nothing more than just a choice we would always regret. But when placed in the hands of God He brought about a purpose that saw an entire city turn back to Him. 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Jonah made the choice to disobey God and suffered the consequences. But He also repented and God used him for a purpose. Will you allow that to be true in your life as well?