Jonah and the God of Second ChancesSample

“Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”—Jonah 1:17

Do you remember being put in timeout as a child? It was the worst! Typically, timeouts looked a little something like this:

• You would do something wrong . . .
• Your parents would catch you or find out . . .
• You would get put in timeout (maybe in your room or in a corner, or something you value would be taken away) . . .

Parents always had creative ways of punishing us. And during the beginning part of timeout, you would be so mad. You’d sit there and plot the downfall of your parents.  
"How could they do this?" you'd ask yourself. "They're just the worst." and "This is all their fault!" you'd shout in your mind.

Then as the timeout continued, your mind would begin to calm, your heart soften, and your thoughts change. You'd start to see the error of your ways. You'd become sorry for what you did; you wish you would've just been obedient. Eventually, you'd get to the point where you apologize to your parents and mean it—it wouldn't just be an excuse to get out of timeout.  

Jonah has a very similar story. You see, God called him to go to a city called Nineveh to call them out for their wicked ways and invite them to repent. Jonah responded by running from what God called him to do. He got on a boat and tried to flee to the  opposite side of the map. He did this to “flee from the LORD” (Jonah 1:3). 

Right about now, you might be thinking, Why would Jonah be disobedient? What was the big deal with what God called him to do? Well, why were you disobedient to your parents? Because you thought you knew best, because you didn’t want to do what they said, because you didn't think you'd get caught, because their rules are just unfair and unreasonable . . . There are so many reasons we come up with to justify—defend our actions and convince ourselves that what we're doing is okay—disobedience. 

We’re a lot like Jonah. When we’re in sin, we tend to flee from God instead of drawing near to Him.  We run from Him instead of toward Him, even though He's the only One who can help us in our struggle with sin. So God, in His infinite wisdom, uses creative ways to draw us back. In this instance, God decided to put Jonah in a timeout. He caused a big storm to strike and Jonah to be thrown into the water. That’s when this huge fish came and swallowed Jonah. He then spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. God could have literally done anything, but He chose a fish. Why? He knew the effect it would have on Jonah’s heart.

God’s timeouts for us aren’t always what we perceive as consequences or punishments—though Scripture does tell us that He disciplines those He loves. He often uses timeouts to prepare us. Our timeouts will probably never look like Jonah’s, but that’s because God works in each of us differently. It’s like resistance bands. How much we resist is how much God has to pull us. 

Ultimately, God wants to bring us to a place where we want what He wants. As we're told in 1 Peter 4:1–2, “Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God."

Questions For Reflection

• What is your reason for not doing what God says?
• What is God’s way of preparing you?