Read | Jonah 1:1–17
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.” Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the LORD’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the LORD’s presence.
But the LORD threw a great wind onto the sea, and such a great storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep.
The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god. Maybe this god will consider us, and we won’t perish.”
“Come on!” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots. Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us who is to blame for this trouble we’re in. What is your business, and where are you from? What is your country, and what people are you from?”
He answered them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Then the men were seized by a great fear and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew he was fleeing from the LORD’s presence because he had told them. So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse.
He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so that it will calm down for you, for I know that I’m to blame for this great storm that is against you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t because the sea was raging against them more and more.
So they called out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood! For you, LORD, have done just as you pleased.” Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. The men were seized by great fear of the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.
The LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
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Jonah went down into the ship to sleep, trying to hide in the dark from God’s illuminated call. As you practice self-examination, what clear instructions or convictions from God are you currently ignoring or “sleeping through”?
God used a severe storm to wake Jonah up and expose his disobedience. Can you identify a recent hardship or disruption in your life that God might be using to illuminate your need to confess and return to his will?
Focus
For further insight, read this devotional written by Kraig McNutt, M.Div.
The Pursuit Is The Mercy
based on Jonah
“The LORD appointed a plant…a worm…a scorching east wind…” —Jonah 4:6–8
If the old adage is true—familiarity breeds contempt—then many of us could possibly miss the lesson the prophet Jonah himself almost missed. What is that lesson? The pursuit is the mercy. Let’s rewind.
The prophet Jonah, son of Amittai, served under the reign of Jeroboam II in the middle of the 8th century (B.C.E.). The Lord sends Jonah to preach repentance to his country’s most feared and hated enemy, Nineveh.
Having set the foundation, this story centers on Nineveh—but it’s not really about Nineveh. It’s not about a great fish, and it’s not even mainly about Jonah. It’s about the God who won’t quit the chase.
Four times in this short book, we read that the Lord “appointed” something from creation to accomplish his plan: the fish (1:17), the plant (4:6), the worm (4:7), and the wind (4:8). Jonah is an imager on the run, and creation itself is after him. He will learn that he can’t outrun mercy.
The story rises to a pinnacle in chapter four. While Jonah is raging about the Lord possibly saving Israel’s chief enemy, the prophet himself has been rescued by a great fish and even shaded from a scorching hot sun. It’s as if Jonah thinks that God’s love, hesed, is just for him and his own people. But his enemies? Not a chance.
Everything comes to a head with God’s question to Jonah (4:4, 4:9): "Is it right for you to be angry?" Can you hear the echo from Genesis—“Where are you?” Not only will God pursue an imager who is hiding (Adam in Genesis), but he will pursue an imager who is on the run (Jonah). The pursuit is the mercy.
What a beautiful lesson that is rooted in a profound yet simple truth. It’s easy to see that a physical rescue is itself an embodiment of God’s mercy, but perhaps even more so is the length at which the Lord will go in pursuing a person who needs his mercy and love.
You might be running from God. What will he “appoint” to show you his mercy today?
Pray
Ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate Scripture as you read, transforming words on a page into living truth.
Going Deeper
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.