Jonah: A Story of Grace

This past Sunday we started a series on the Old Testament Book of Jonah. It started off with a great message introducing Jonah and the great city of Nineveh. Jonah thought he could run from God and his responsibilities. Not so much. Psalm139 reminds us that we cannot find a cruise anywhere that God is not already there. And when we do run…He is fully capable of getting our attention in the most creative of ways. Perhaps it will not be in the belly of a great fish. It could be…but hopefully it will not be.

So I am encouraging our church family to spend some time reading and re-reading this great Old Testament Book of Jonah. I do believe Jonah was a real man swallowed by a real fish…a really big fish. I have no trouble believing the God who created the Heavens and the earth could also create a fish capable of putting up with a disobedient prophet for three days! So how is this God’s message for His church today? How is this message for your Connection Group? And more to the point, how is this a message from God’s heart to yours?

Jonah 1:1 starts with “The Word of the LORD came to Jonah”. This was the first evidence of God’s amazing grace in this story. Who is Jonah, and who are we, that Almighty God would take the time to speak a word to us? What grace and what love. We have a Father in heaven that the Bible describes as our friend; a Shepherd to His sheep; a lover of our souls. We have a Father who loved broken humanity so much that He sent His only Son to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world. To give wicked Nineveh a chance to repent, to change their thinking about God is an amazing display of grace. This is a story of God’s grace to Jonah, to Nineveh and to the people of Israel. It is also a story of grace for you and me, JIBC, your connection group. Seek the Word of God. Let the Word of God come to you as it did to Jonah…just don’t run! Where could you run from His presence?

See you Sunday…good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom