Jonah: Big Fish, Bigger GodSample

More than a big fish

Don’t get distracted by the big fish because the book of Jonah is really about a big God. If you know anything about this four-chapter book near the end of the Old Testament, it’s probably about the giant fish that swallowed ol’ Jonah, but it is only mentioned three times. Jonah himself is mentioned 18 times, but even he is not the star of this story. That honor belongs to God, mentioned 40 times in this 48-verse book!

To be more specific, the book of Jonah is about God’s love for all people. From the violent, wicked, and abusive Assyrians to the self-righteous, pouty, holier-than-thou Jonah, God shows his shocking love for all kinds of people before the book is done. We see hints of that love in the very first verses: “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh’” (Jonah 1:1,2). The Lord told a Torah-loving Jew from a small town near Nazareth to take a mission trip to a metropolitan, Gentile, pagan city. Why? Because God, as John later pointed out, loves the world (John 3:16).

If you struggle with loving “those people” or believing that God loves you, keep reading the book of Jonah. And don’t get distracted by the big fish! This book is about God's even bigger love for the world.