Jonah

Overview – November 2016 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Jonah

“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple.” —Jonah 2:7 NKJV

Jonah, meaning “a dove,” is more than anything a personal history of the prophet in connection with God sending him to prophesy against Nineveh, the Assyrian capital city. This book shows to us the inner workings of even a chosen servant of God, rather than the secret workings of the heart of an unbeliever. How humbling is the exposure! Yet the prophet himself had to write it all faithfully for our learning and benefit.

Having been given a message from God, Jonah first fled from the responsibility of delivering it. But the discipline of God in Jonah’s being cast into the sea and swallowed by a great fish brought the prophet’s soul low indeed. In spite of so traumatic an experience, when he was brought back by God and driven to obey, he took the credit for the message and thought more of his reputation as a prophet than of God’s rights to show mercy to a repentant city.

Does this not teach us how guarded we should be in every service for the Lord? We should seek no recognition or place for ourselves. Rather, we need to obey out of love for Him and for the eternal destiny and spiritual blessing of others.

Notice too that Jonah records how God had the last word with him. The very fact that the prophet wrote an unvarnished account of the whole distressing history is a clear indication that he was in the end truly benefited by all his experiences.

By Leslie M. Grant

This column is taken from the book: “The Bible, Its 66 Books In Brief.”
It is available for purchase from Believers Bookshelf USA.