Category Archives: Jonah

When God speaks, He Eventually Gets His way – Jonah

God did not give-up with Jonah. He still wanted Jonah to fulfill God’s original plan, purpose or burden that God called him for.

A Large Fish - Whale at SeaWorld, San Diego

A Large Fish – Whale at SeaWorld, San Diego

 In Jonah 3 it says that God spoke again to Jonah. God speaks again.  God again asked Jonah to go to Nineveh, the city He had originally commissioned him to go to. Eventually Jonah obeys, goes to that city and preaches, and as a result those people turned away from their unrighteousness and to God. See more at:  Jonah in the Bible

A Large Fish - Whale at SeaWorld, San Diego

A Large Fish – Whale at SeaWorld, San Diego

Originally published by Drew  December 31, 2012.

Anger Kills Us – Jonah

Jonah’s anger is killing him. He’s a miserable man because he’s not free—he’s still a slave to his own bitterness, limitations, and weaknesses. Some of us are miserable for the same reasons. God is working on us, teaching us to trust Him (that is trust God) specifically in those areas where it’s so very, very hard to discern what He’s doing and why.

California Beach

California Beach

God Cares What We Do

The Children of Israel Disobey God and Suffer Discipline

Now, we want to look at the example of the children of Israel in the Old Testament. God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt and brought them into their own land, the land of Canaan. God told them that as long as they served Him, the true God, and kept the sacrifices, and did the things He commanded them to do, He would preserve them in that land. The people obeyed for a while, but eventually they decided to do their own thing. They began to worship other gods and do things God wasn’t happy with.  God sent several prophets to them during that time. One of the big prophets was Jeremiah. Another one was Ezekiel. God kept speaking to His people and warning them. He basically said to them, “If you continue in this unrighteous way and continue to disobey Me, I will allow an enemy to come in and capture you.”  Sure enough, that is what happened.  God allowed the enemy to come in and devastate His people. Did God send this enemy or allow it? God had warned His people over and over again through prophet after prophet, “If you don’t obey Me, and if you don’t do the things I proscribed for you to do through Moses, then I will allow the enemy to come in, and that enemy will devastate you. “ The people absolutely ignored the prophets. They ignored Jeremiah.  They ignored Ezekiel and other prophets.  God allowed Assyria to come in, the Egyptians and eventually the Babylonians to come in.  They burned a lot of the cities and did a lot of damage, and took many Israelites captive back to Babylon.  Why did God allow that to happen? Number one, His people were not doing the things He told them to do. Just like Jonah got himself into a lot of trouble because he didn’t go where God told him to go, so the children of Israel had problems with their enemies because they did not obey the voice of the Lord and do the things that He wanted them to do.

But check the end of the Bible,  God does not give up on His people. He still wanted Israel to fulfill the original intention, purpose, and burden that He had for Israel. God eventually gets His way for all of us.

Jonah in the Bible

Jonah – When God speaks, He eventually gets His way.

Jonah was commissioned by God to go to Nineveh to preach and teach there, and to bring the people of that city to the Lord. We might tend to think Jonah should be able to go wherever he wanted to go, but that is not a principle taught in the Bible.  Jonah decided to go in a direction completely opposite the direction the Lord wanted him to go. Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh because he knew the people in that city were very cruel. Jonah feared that if they didn’t accept the message God had for them they might persecute or even kill him. We can understand why he wouldn’t want to go there!

We read that Jonah went out from the presence of the Lord. He turned his back on the Lord and went his own way!  Jonah took passage on a ship to go where he wanted to go.  Eventually they found themselves in the middle of a ferocious storm and the people on the boat learned that Jonah wasn’t doing what his God told him to do. Jonah knew this storm was a direct result his disobedience to the Lord, so he directed them to throw him overboard.  He saw that as the only chance of saving the ship and crew. What happened next seems rather strange to some people but it says God prepared a fish.  Some say it was a whale but the Bible doesn’t really say that.  It was a big fish.  This big fish swallowed Jonah, and he was in the belly of this fish for three days.  That is a brief summary of Jonah chapter one.

In chapter 2, we find Jonah in the belly of this big fish. He begins to pray and cry out to God?  Why?  He is in a big predicament and he doesn’t know if it will be life or death for him.  Jonah eventually prays and God delivers him. This fish spits him out on the shore.

In Jonah 3 it says that God spoke again to Jonah. In other words, God didn’t give-up on Jonah. He still wanted Jonah to fulfill the original intention, purpose or burden that God had for him. God again asked Jonah to go to Nineveh, the city He had originally commissioned him to go to. Eventually Jonah obeys, goes to that city and preaches, and as a result those people turned away from their unrighteousness and to God.

What is the simple principle we can learn from the story of Jonah?  When God speaks, eventually God gets His way.  If we don’t follow or go along with the Lord, He will sometimes allow something to happen that will bring God to our attention. In Jonah’s case, he spent three days in the belly of a big fish. There are two other examples in the Bible of people who went their own way and did their own thing and eventually got into trouble. Don’t forget, eventually God gets His way. 

The video this text is taken from is being uploaded to  Drew’s YouTube channel.

What About The Beginning and the End

beautiful sunset

As I was considering what we should talk about on today’s blog.  Should we talk about the beginning of the Bible, the book of Genesis, or should we talk about the end of the Bible, the book of Revelation?  These are two favorite subjects, at least for me. Genesis is a book of beginnings, and talks about creation. Because I am a computer engineer, I am interested in intricate things. I like to know about how things started. How did God create the heavens and the earth?  How did God put all the laws of the universe into motion? How do you interpret Genesis chapter one?  Some people look at it as discussingoriginal creation while others understand it to be describing a restoration of the original creation. Which is it? There are many reasons and evidences for both sides. Interestingly, something totally different from the book of Genesis or the book of Revelation came to mind as I considered before God what the burden for this program should be.  What came to mind was an Old Testament story about someone named Jonah. Jonah is an Old Testament book comprised of only four chapters, and it teaches us a very basic lesson.