What Can We Learn From Jonah?

01 Jonah

Jonah is one of the most conflicted characters in the Bible. He has his own book of the Bible located in the Old Testament. He was a prophet. What’s a prophet? A prophet is someone who receives messages from God. It can be about encouragement, a warning, a word of knowledge, or even the future. God chose him for a reason. Yet, he found himself in the belly of a whale. How does that happen. Let me give you a quick backstory. 

Jonah was a prophet who got a message about Ninevah from God. Now, Ninevah was a very evil city, so bad that people did not even know which hand was their right or left. There was prostitution, sex slavery, gambling, violence, you name it, the city of Ninevah was doing it. 

Now, Jonah did not want to help them, so he ran away and tried to hide from God by going to a city called Tarshish. It was quite literally on the other side of the world. Jonah, a prophet, chose to run and try to hide from God.

However, on his way there, he got a taste of reality when a strong storm came and almost destroyed the ship he was on. The crew of the ship had to throw Jonah overboard. The Bible says the storm stopped immediately. However, before a rescue attempt could be made he was swallowed by a whale (or a great fish depending on who’s teaching)! He was in the belly of that whale three days.

Jonah decided to eat some humble pie and while he was there, he prayed and asked God to forgive him. The whale spit Jonah out on dry land and he went to Ninevah where he preached about God to the people there. Now, I know that is not the end of the story, but I want to stop there because it has a good message. 

I believe that the story of Jonah tells us that whenever you mess up and you find yourself real low, well maybe not in the belly of a whale, talk to God. He’s the God of Second Chances. He loves everyone so much that He sent Jesus to earth be our Savior. If you mess up, it’s okay. God loves you! Yes, there will be consequences to your actions, but God will still give you another chance. 

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