Jonah Ch.4

Praise the LORD family! We thank the LORD for today's reading which is from the last chapter of Jonah! Again, if you have not yet checked out the book of Jonah in the Bible. I highly encourage you to check it out. It entails a marvellous display of God's ever abundant mercy and love for mankind.

Holy Spirit, as we delve into today's Word, thank you for the Word and thank you that the entrance of Your Word brings light, truth, understanding into our lives and is continually guiding our paths into the Father's love and mercy, in the name of Jesus, Amen. Thank you LORD.

To summarize the previous three chapters, we see Jonah, sent by God to preach a message of destruction to a city called Nineveh because of their flagrant sin. Jonah on the other hand decided to disobey God's Word by boarding a ship to a different city called Tarshish. During his water voyage, a storm arose and Jonah had to be thrown out of the boat into the sea in order to calm the storm that would have destroyed everyone else. He was swallowed by a big fish when he was thrown into the water and stayed in its belly for three days and three nights. During this time, Jonah sought God in prayer and he was delivered out of the mouth of the fish. When delivered out of the fish's mouth onto dry ground, Jonah went on to successfully deliver the word of the LORD to the people of Nineveh in which they repented and sought the LORD's mercy. The LORD God in His never ending mercy and love turned away and forgave the people in the city of Nineveh and did not it destroy it as He had spoken.

Jonah 4:1- 2 NKJV reads,

1."But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.

2."So he prayed to the LORD, and said, "Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, One who relents from doing harm."

The above Word is amazing for many reasons. In a previous post, I had shared how it appears that Jonah had a personal preference for his obedience to God's instruction. He did not want to go and speak the word of the LORD over the people of Nineveh only for God to forgive and love on them. He would rather his prophecy of doom and destruction came to pass as opposed to God's mercy prevailing. At the same time, if Jonah did not speak out, then the people would not have had an opportunity to repent of their sins.

Beloved, God is always willing to give His creation a chance because He is patient and does not want anyone to be destroyed (2 Peter 3:9). God, the Father did not create man only to destroy him. The enemy is the one who seeks to destroy man as he introduced sin into the world which separated man from God. But thank God for Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God who came so that we can be one with the Father again.

John 3:16, expresses the epitome of God's love for everyone and His desire for us to be one with Him again as it were in the garden of Eden. It reads, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Friend, God is love and this reminder is echoed in 1 John 4:8. It reads, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." It's amazing that Jonah understood the enduring and never ending mercy and love that God has especially for His people. The question is, do you know the mercy and love that God has for you? The reality is most of the times, we are harder on ourselves over our mistakes than God will ever be towards us. Today, God, the Father wants you to know His love and mercy for you just like Jonah had a revelation of it.

In chapter 4, the LORD God illustrates to Jonah the reason for His abundant love and mercy through a plant which He grew overnight as a shade for Jonah during his disappointment with God (Jonah 4:6) and prepared a worm for it to die (Jonah 4:7). Jonah was angry that the plant had died and he expressed this anger to God (Jonah 4:9) and this was the moment that the LORD used to explain the basis for His love towards the repentant hearts of the people of Nineveh.

Jonah 4:10-11 (NKJV) says, "But the LORD said, "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up at night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left - and much livestock?"

Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. The same love and mercy that God showed Nineveh "yesterday" or in the past is available to you as well today. When it comes to man kind, God does not want a single soul to perish because you are very precious and valuable to Him. God is always willing to show mercy, grace and love where there is repentance of sin so that none shall go to destruction and hell. God desires for all mankind to inherit eternal life found in Christ Jesus and for all to rejoice in heaven with Him. This is the true significance of Easter. It is also important to note that our good actions cannot take us to heaven. Only God's mercy, love and grace found in Christ Jesus has the power to give us eternal life. John 14:6 reiterates this truth and it reads, "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

On that note, if you would like to know about God, the Father who from the beginning of creation has always loved you and desires to commune with you through a personal relationship with His only Son Christ by dwelling on the inside of you and to have eternal and everlasting life including all the blessings found in Christ Jesus - I invite you to make this confession:

"I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that; Jesus Christ, the Son of God came in a human body to die for my sins so that I could have a new life where I am dead to sin and alive to God. I repent of my past sins and enter the Kingdom of light where I choose relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and with God as my loving Father today and forever." AMEN.

Congratulations, by grace you are saved and are now a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old life has passed away and you have received the free gift of salvation into your life (2 Corinthians 5:17) where you get to freely access everything I've shared in this post. To the glory of the Almighty God. Amen.

Please feel free to reach out to us on info@bibleversionoflife.com. We would love to hear your story and send you a free Bible! God bless you.

Let's end with this Word in Matthew 6:26 NKJV:

"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

AMEN.

I invite you to make this confession together; - THANK YOU LORD GOD THAT BEFORE YOUR EYES, I AM YOUR MOST VALUABLE AND PRECIOUS CREATION. AMEN.

This marks the end of our sharing from the book of Jonah and may the LORD reward you for your consistency to spend time to get to know Him in His Word. Glory to God and the risen King Jesus, Hallelujah!

WISHING YOU A BLESSED RESURRECTION SUNDAY TO YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES :)