Introduction

The book of Jonah is a strange sequence of events that include a storm, a whale, a worm and not a little humour packed into just four chapters. It’s a (true!) story about a reluctant prophet overlaid onto the story of a wicked city. Jonah’s actual ‘thus sayeth the Lord’ prophetic revelations are limited to a few verses. The book has high entertainment value, filled with irony, satire, the highs and lows of rebellion and repentance and a suitably weird ending. But if we let it, the Book of Jonah will stir up a reverence for God in our hearts.

This devotional will invite you to look at your own heart towards ministry as we mine the scripture to try to understand Jonah’s heart towards his ministry. Ultimately, we will be asking God to shape our hearts’ attitude towards ministry after his own.

We are all leaders

I do believe that all of us, in one way or another, are ministers. You don’t have to be the Pope to influence the lives of other Christians. God has very intentionally chosen where you live, when, and who will surround you so that you can be impacted by them and also impact their lives. This circle of influence could include friends, family, neighbours, church, small groups, online friends or acquaintances – really anyone you interact with. It could also be the people under your leadership should you be in a formal leadership position. What is your attitude when you talk about (or avoid talking about) God with these people?

Is this the right time for this devotional?

I want you to know up front: this is not going to be a comfortable devotional. If you are looking for a devotional that will give you your spiritual energy shot of the day, this is not really it. This devotional is for deep work and you may want to reserve it for a time when you are not enduring other particularly stressful events. Or perhaps the Lord has brought you here because He wants you to examine potential causes of stress in your ministry life. Wherever you find yourself, I encourage you to strap in. It’s going to be a bumpy whale of ride.

Read

Jonah is a short, concise book. I encourage you to spend 30 minutes if not today then sometime in this devotional week to read the entire book once through. It will help to give you contextual familiarity and perspective. Although this devotional will direct you through a chronological reading of Jonah, each day’s devotional is a reflection on the book in its entirety. The devotional days will often reference the events throughout the entire book so it would be good to get a handle on these ahead of time.

I pray God will bless you as you seek to learn more about His ways.