Going the wrong way

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 (Jonah 1:1-3).

Jonah lived during the years when Israel had seen its best days and was sinking into spiritual and economic decline. The golden age of David and Solomon was past. The kingdom had split into two competing nations, Israel and Judah. It was the time when the prophets Elijah and Elisha opposed king Ahab and queen Jezebel, who were encouraging the people to worship their false god named Baal.

It seems that immoral behavior, belief in false religions, and fascination with evil were commonplace everywhere. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was a cesspool of corruption. Assyria was a major world power of that time. The power and influence of Nineveh was known from Europe to India to Africa. And yet Nineveh was so degraded that the Lord spoke to Jonah, telling him "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me."

This was a tough assignment. No one from Nineveh had asked Jonah to come preach to them; to Assyria, Israel was a poor backwater country populated by a people in decline. Besides, Jonah would be a stranger in a strange land, standing alone among a people known for their ruthless cruelty as he told them that they must change their ways or be destroyed. Not an inviting prospect; Jonah didn’t want to go. So Jonah decided to get out of town. He figured that if he got busy doing something else, God would leave him alone and send somebody else instead. Jonah set out in the opposite direction—instead of heading east to Nineveh, he hurried to the port city of Joppa, where he boarded a ship heading west towards Tarshish.

We too are tempted to try and run away from the harder tasks that God assigns to us, especially when He wants us to do things for Him that are religious and spiritual. Just like Jonah, the Lord has told us to go and speak to others about their need for God. Jesus said, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20). These words are addressed to every person who is a Christian. You know what the word go means, and you know what the word teaching means. But I imagine that you have told the Lord something along these lines: "Lord, I’d like to do what You want, but I can’t do that. I’m not good at teaching; I don’t speak very well. Anyway, I can’t afford to go to school to become a person who teaches religion. I’ll tell You what—Lord, I’ll use the talents You have given me to earn money, and I’ll give You some of that money to support someone else in going and teaching in my place."

It is true that we all have different gifts, and not everyone has the God-given skills to be a preacher or teacher; Paul tells us so in Ephesians. And God does expect the rest of us to financially support those who go out and teach in His name. But maybe God wants to train and send you as His teacher; by offering the Lord your money instead of your God-given talents, have you, like Jonah, been fleeing towards Tarshish?

And what about Sunday morning? The Lord has not forgotten that you promised Him your earnings to send others in your place. When the collection plate is passed, is your offering large enough to send someone else? What percentage of your income does it represent? When you decide how much to give to the Lord, are your thoughts directed towards Nineveh or Tarshish?

Just as the Lord told Jonah to preach to Nineveh, so He expects you to witness to the people of this world. Jesus said, you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). By you, He means every Christian. By Jerusalem, our Lord means your hometown. To be a witness means telling people that Jesus, the Son of God, left the glories of heaven to be born into poverty, that He lived without sin and dedicated every moment of His life to serving God and serving the needs of humanity. To be a witness means telling your relatives that Jesus was crucified and died for the sins of all people. It means telling your friends that Jesus rose from death to live forever in heaven, where He presents our requests for mercy to God the Father. It means telling your coworkers and neighbors that the Lord is returning for a final judgement, and that all who trust in Him will live with Him eternally. Our Lord wants you to tell others what He means to you, and to invite them to come with you to church activities where they may deepen their relationship with God together with other Christians. God’s assignment to you is just as clear as it was to Jonah.

What will you do with this assignment? Will you make time for the Lord each Sunday your top priority? Will you commit yourself to showing God’s love as you work and socialize with others? Will you volunteer your time to sing in the choir, teach Sunday School, or serve as a church officer? Will you set your feet towards Nineveh, or do you still want to set sail for Tarshish?

Jonah went down to Joppa, paid his fare, and boarded the ship. As the coastline faded from view, Jonah heaved a sigh of relief—perhaps he felt he had escaped God’s will. Jonah went below decks and fell into a self-satisfied sleep.

But God sees everything, and no place is beyond His reach. The Lord decided to see just how stubborn Jonah would be. Soon, the wind came up. The waves grew higher and higher. Water began flooding the ship, threatening to sink it. The sailors threw all unnecessary equipment overboard to lighten their vessel. They prayed to their false gods. But nothing helped. The captain woke Jonah and told him to pray to his God as well, but God did not answer Jonah’s selfish pleas.

It finally dawned on Jonah that his behavior was responsible for their current situation; God had caught up to him. Although he had feared speaking of God with the Ninevites, he spoke openly of the Lord with these sailors: I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land (Jonah 1:9). He admitted to them that he had been trying to run away from the Lord, and that this terrible storm was the result. Regretting what his sin had resulted in, he said: pick me up and throw me into the sea…and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you (Jonah 1:12).

But the sailors did not want to anger God further by throwing Jonah into the sea to drown; instead, they rowed with all their might to try and reach land. But God prevented them from making any progress, so they prayed that the Lord would not hold them guilty for Jonah’s blood, and threw him into the surging waves that engulfed them. As soon as the deed was done, the storm died away—the sailors feared the Lord even more and offered a sacrifice to Him, committing themselves to His worship.

But what of Jonah? The Lord was not done with him yet, so He arranged a miraculous rescue for this errant messenger—a huge sea creature swallowed Jonah whole and alive. For three days, Jonah survived in the belly of the creature, and these were the most important days of his life, for the Bible says, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God (Jonah 2:1). This was the turning point in Jonah’s life. Yes, Jonah had been a believer, but he was one who tried to slip by without having to do any work for the Lord. God had to treat him rather roughly to teach him that this is not how God’s people behave.

So Jonah prayed. He prayed for forgiveness. He gave thanks to God for his salvation, and he promised that he would go to Nineveh, and from now on he would be obedient to the Lord. And God forgave Jonah; on the third day the sea creature spit him out along the shoreline. And as Jonah cleaned himself off, enjoying the feel of solid ground beneath his feet, the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you" (Jonah 3:1) This time, Jonah obeyed—he headed east to preach in the capital of Assyria.

Jonah had learned his lesson the hard way. He had learned that you can’t run away from God or the tasks that He gives you. Think of how much more pleasant Jonah’s life would have been, had he only obeyed God right away. This is still true today—it is so much more enjoyable to willingly do what God asks of us, rather than make Him pressure us. Immediate obedience to God is always the best way.

The message that Jonah brought to Nineveh was a stern one: "because of your wickedness, 40 days from now, your city will be destroyed!" But to his surprise, Jonah’s words did not fall on deaf ears, nor was he arrested and tortured. Instead, the king and the people believed God’s message to them. They set aside their fancy clothes and sat in ashes to show their genuine sorrow over having angered God. When the Lord saw that they had regretted their evil ways, He forgave them and spared the city.

Now you would think that Jonah would thank God and rejoice. He had preached. The people had repented. The city was spared. But Jonah was not happy. On the contrary, he was aggravated with the Lord—angry, because God had been merciful and forgiven the wicked when they repented!

This seems incomprehensible—but aren’t we like Jonah sometimes? Have you ever wondered why doesn’t God just destroy all the evil people in the world? Why do the godless prosper? Why does God expect us to forgive people who have hurt us, when they are not even Christians? But through Peter the Lord tells us, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). It can take a long time for some people to recognize their sins and repent—years, decades, maybe even a lifetime. Yet every person who has come to faith late in life will tell you how grateful they are that Jesus was patient with them during their years of sinning, that He did not give up on them and destroy them. Certainly Jonah, of all people, should have understood this.

Jonah went out of the city and set up a shelter for himself; there he waited for the arrival of the 40th day. He couldn’t bring himself to believe that the Lord was really going to let that wicked city off the hook. During his wait, the Lord caused a large leafy plant to sprout up overnight at his campsite. Jonah was glad for the generous shade it provided in the hot climate. But the next day, God sent a worm to eat into the plant and kill it. Jonah felt utterly miserable. He was hot. He was angry that God had relented punishing the Ninevites. He was upset that the worm had killed the shade plant. Then the Lord spoke to Jonah once more. He said: "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" (Jonah 4:10-11)

Mankind is God’s special creation. Mankind was created in God’s image, with an immortal soul. His great and unending concern is to win us back, to save our souls for eternal life with Him. That’s why God spared Nineveh. That’s why God permits our sinful world to continue to exist, that some might be saved by the preaching and teaching of the Gospel of Christ. The great lesson of Jonah’s life is that God is generous, patient, and forgiving. He forgave both Jonah and the people of Nineveh when they repented. This gracious God never changes. In 1st John 1:9 we read, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we, at times, have acted like Jonah, or even like the people of Nineveh, He also forgives us as He forgave them. Ask the Lord for His mercy, and to help you lead a life that goes, not away from Him, but towards Him.