220 Jonah 001 – 004; Acts 28.1 – 28.9
You know the man, Jonah, you know the story, and you know the fish, but do you know how it applies to you? It is surely about a gentile nation repenting and God therefore having mercy on them. Yet, there is so much more. It is a penetrating look into the heart of God and the heart of man. One heart is overwhelmingly awesome and the other is selfish in a staggeringly intense way. Jonah did not want these evil people from Nineveh to come to God (Jonah knew God well enough to know that if the Nineveh showed signs of repentance that God would have mercy). Jonah runs from the absolute revealed will of God. He finally shows up (or should I say throws up?) in Nineveh and sure enough they repent and God has mercy. Jonah is already ticked and then gets even more ticked when his shade is taken away. At the heart of Jonah's problem--he did not have a clue about God's grace--God's grace for himself or for anyone else. People without any insight into God's grace end up having a very selfish attitude. How do I know that this book is about God's heart of grace and Jonah's heart of stone? God in the last paragraph of the book lets Jonah know that he cannot get angry over his shade being taken away since he didn't grow the tree or make the tree and how can he get angry over what God does with the nation? It is God who determines these things not Jonah - Jonah had some control issues. Do you see you in Jonah? Do you see yourself growing more in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ?
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