Old Testament Characters of Faith Jonah: Foolishness

Jonah Is A Picture Of: 1. The lengths God is willing to go to accomplish His will for our lives. 2. The lengths we’re willing to go to avoid His will for our lives!

God’s Will for Jonah (1:1-3) The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

The Assyrian Empire

Jonah’s Reasons for Running From God:  His Cultural Values. He didn’t want to see the Assyrians spared (later, in Chapter 4).  He Was Scared! He was the King’s Counselor (2 Kings 14)! He had position, fame, fortune! What would they think!?

Jonah 1:4-5 But the L ORD hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold.

Jonah 1:6-7 So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.” Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit.

Jonah 1:8 Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?”

Jonah 1:9-10 Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the L ORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” 10 The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the L ORD. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned.

Jonah 1:11-12 And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?” “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.”

Jonah 1:13-16 Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. 14 Then they cried out to the L ORD, Jonah’s God. “O L ORD,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O L ORD, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.” 15 Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! 16 The sailors were awestruck by the L ORD ’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him

Jonah 1:17 Now the L ORD had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

The Discipline of God And have you quite forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you, his child? Hebrews 12:5 Living Bible He said, "My son, don't be angry when the Lord disciplines you. Don't be discouraged when he has to show you where you are wrong. For when he punishes you, it proves that he loves you…” Hebrews 12:6

The Promise of God …being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philip. 1:6

“He lay down and fell into a deep sleep”

 He said, “I cried out to the L ORD in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and L ORD, you heard me! 3 You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves. "Cease striving and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. Romans 8:37

This time Jonah obeyed the L ORD ’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” 5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the L ORD about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, L ORD ? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people

“For I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. “Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.

Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."

But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" "I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."

God’s Object Lesson JonahGod Takes Gives Temporal Values Eternal Values

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