God Works To Bring Glory To Himself

October 2023 – Grace & Truth Magazine

God Works To Bring Glory To Himself

Many are familiar with Bible stories such as those involving Adam, Noah and Joseph. Jonah and the great fish is another often told. The records of these events make good material for teaching young children – and mature people, too! We are reminded that even the seemingly more simple portions of the Bible are valuable. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16 NKJV ). “Whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).

Regardless of our age or spiritual knowledge, we need to consider the lessons God has given us in His Word, even in the story of Jonah. We may not be able to relate to exact specifics of what He was told to do and how he reacted, but it is quite likely that we have failed, and may still fail, in ways not too different than those of the prophet.

If we consider ourselves rightly, based on God’s standards rather than man’s, we are reminded of our deep need and inability to meet it. We are brought to confession as the apostle Paul was, “by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor. 15:10). “God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Eph. 2:4-5). As we ponder the record of Jonah, who lived under the law, we see God drawing this man to Himself, “according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us [including Jonah] in all wisdom and prudence” (1:7-8).

God brought Jonah to a recognition of himself and his need of correction before God; He saved a people despised by the prophet but loved of Him (Jon. 3); and He glorified His beloved Son, for Jesus made reference to Jonah’s time in the fish’s belly as a picture of His “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Mt. 12:40). Only God brings about such things!

By Paul Alberts