“…for I know that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing… Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (Jonah 4:2-4)
The message of Jonah is that God loves people. God loves all people!
The Book of Jonah has little to do with whales swallowing people. If you come to the book of Jonah looking for truth, you will find at the heart of this book a loving God Who values people and longs to draw all men, women and children to God.
Jonah demonstrates that God earnestly desires to express unconditional love and grace through God’s faithful servants. The people of God, you and me, are designed to be the vehicles of God’s love, grace and salvation in this world.
When the people of God are prejudiced, they become obstacles that block God’s love and salvation in this world.
If God loves Ninevites, and Jonah hates Ninevites, how can God express love and salvation for them when Jonah is hung up on his prejudice?
Did you observe Jonah did not answer God’s last question?
To put the best possible spin on this, I would like to think Jonah’s silence this time was because, when Jonah finally saw the truth of God’s love and compassion even for wicked people, he was humbled.
When your mind and spirit experience a personal revelation of the love and grace of God, which are not won by a positive performance or lost by a negative performance, you will be humbled, too.
Dick Woodward, Jonah Coming & Going: True Confessions of a Prophet
#hope #love #faith #inspiration #grace #mercy
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