The story of Prophet Jonah from the Holy Scriptures is a captivating one that conveys the puzzling nature of humans in our relationship with others, whether in sincerity or phony. However, when flipped to God, it clearly draws our focus and admiration to the all-powerful, ever present and the all-knowing nature of the Divine God over all things.
God gave Prophet Jonah instruction to preach the message of repentance to the people of the city of Nineveh. That is, the message of restoration from darkness to light, which is to turn from their spiritual and moral atrocities to His righteousness. Instead of Jonah joyfully embarking on this worthy venture, he deliberately chose to violate the instruction, thinking he could run away from God by going to another city called Tarshish. This was probably to hide his disobedience of the order from Eternal Glory. Therefore, in Jonah’s delusional attempt, the power of God came mightily on his escaping ship with life threatening waves against the ship. After consultation by the sailors and other passengers on the ship through foretelling mediums, the agreeable sign pointed to Jonah as the cause of the tumultuous wave against their ship. Also, they realized he was running away from the instruction of God, whom mostly they have heard of His great deeds to His people. Initially, they hesitated not to throw him out, but their hesitations brought more pounding of the waves against their ship. Finally, it came to their senses that their only saving grace was to throw this fella out into the sea, which they did. Assured, there was calm on the sea and by God’s sorting, Jonah was miraculously swallowed up by a big fish, and he was in its belly for 3 days and 3 nights. This incident is the symbolic similarity of how Jesus Christ was in the heart of the world for 3 days and nights engaged in the fight of holy sacrifice by His blood through the living Anointing on behalf of humankind for the release of our souls into freedom after defeating the power of darkness in their ultimate powerhouse. While still in the belly of the fish, in Jonah’s deep despair, which represents the depth of hopelessness to the human soul, Jonah reconnected with himself, where he came face to face with the void of illumination or total darkness in his soul. That place of total hopelessness, wretchedness, downcast or impossibility is also the silent presence of the breath of God’s consciousness (Presence) patiently and willingly ready to reawaken the light of life into the soul that desperately reconnect in submission to the power of His Glory. This was exactly what happened to Jonah by sincerely requesting for reconciliation or healing through worship (Prayer). Consequently, Jonah’s submission and outpouring of his heart in prayer for the reawakening of life brought about the full admission for forgiveness and restoration, which is akin in the New covenant as the package of our grace. God in His infinite mercy forgave him at the bed of his anguish by instructing the fish to dump him on dry land.
Thus, when God gave Jonah the instruction to Nineveh the second time, he went straight and preached to the city. That is, the whole city from the king to the very least, accepted the message of repentance, which was reinforced with the king’s decree for all to fast and pray to God for forgiveness to their land. Again and again, in His merciful way, God forgave them by their repentance. This act of God on these people did go down well with Jonah. He was not happy that God forgave these people easily. In fact, this was part of the reason he jumped away from the first instruction from God because he knew to himself that the mercies of God would eventually get to these people. However, in his peculiar curiosity he went to a place to observe what was going to happen to these people. While there, God gave him shelter in the form of a mushroom-like plant or shrub that gave him cover and warmth. The next morning, God deliberately removed the object, later on that same day there was an adverse weather condition that beat against Jonah, which triggered his anger and even wish he was dead. In this, God then referred to Jonah that he enjoyed the succor of that shrub for a moment and when it was no longer available to his benefit, he was not happy. That is, if Jonah could have such compassion for the shrub because it gave him comfort or warmth but was angry when it was removed, then why was Jonah annoyed when God forgave and showed His love to these people after they have repented? Jonah forgot so soon that his disobedience was forgiven because he turned his heart to God just like these people.
This was really a silent laughable gesture to God because through Jonah’s attitude, He exposed to us how the human heart devoid of His love and appreciation is self-seeking, greedy, insensitive, stingy, tightfisted, pinching, self-obsessed and egotistic. It shows how narrow minded, shallow and lack of depth of character humans could be when ruled by jealousy, pettiness and soulful distress, which undeniably are the inherent hallmarks of the unrenewed heart in Christ Jesus. These tendencies are expressed in human feelings or attitudes to others and to a great extent even towards God. Of note is that God’s warmth, goodwill and devotion to us is never based on partial judgment or reasoning but always and is really to satisfy His presence of Glory that brings illumination, brilliance, radiance, restoration and boost into our lives and situations. His care, goodness and generosity amongst others are spiritual but comes out physical because of the transformative benefits they brings to us, even when we do not see ourselves as He sees us in the special likeness of His magnificence, gentleness, tenderness, mastery, patience, knowledge, forgiveness, and understanding.
When Prophet Jonah evaluated God’s mercy on the people of Nineveh, his mindset was tailored to the “eye for an eye” framework. That is, his attention was looking at sins and its punishment with the agony of afflictions rather than with the kindness and good nurture or nourishments of reconciliation that brings comfort and growth. However, when we turn to God, He always sees the agony of afflictions by cautioning us, which is the pathway to His merciful opportunity for restoration, healing and comfort because of His esteemed honor and character of love.
With humble permission, let us make some logical dialogue but still reconnect into the spiritual route of God’s Sovereignty. That is, we know some of our thinking would reflect on how it was possible to have survived in the belly of a fish, compacted with other slimming components for 3 days and nights? To this, we would respectfully suggest that there are lots of gaps to fill in human understanding of this possibility. Rightfully so, those kinds of questions or similar queries could leave us to think that the message was just a conceptual presentation and not that it really happened. Philosophical and other mental compositions could lead us in that direction. However, the underlying context that requires attention and clear appreciation is that nothing is impossible with God. The message could be framed in whatever elements our mental compass would lead us to. Notwithstanding, our thought process cannot remove the validity of the power of God over all things, which makes the content of the message very real and achievable. Therefore, the reverence, homage and thanksgiving to God should never be tempered with because all things come from Him and whatever state or forms, He chooses to express His message to humankind is by His flawless imagination and infinite grasp. If we question how possible God could have placed a human in the belly of the fish, we could also stretch our inquiries at creation and sometimes imagine how things are shaped, even in the galaxies that beat the imaginations of high valued human intelligence and magnified curious proportions. We could also look at existence maybe with some awe and channel our reasoning to ask simple questions as to why or who must have thought it proper for fishes to live in waters and not walk on land like animals or humans or vice versa? Who could have arranged the human lungs to receive oxygen to function and live, while the waste is carbon dioxide that we breathe out. The billions of connective neurons in the human brain did not grow out of nothing but must have been perfectly arranged by a Superior Being or Presence, even when some question or do not believe in such existence. The mysteries of humankind and existence, when married to Jonah’s experience, leaves us with the appreciation of the Supreme Being that brought these together and with all respect, not scientific postulations collated to rehearse the thesis and dogmas from human limited intelligent exercises, whether in technological evaluations or in extensive technical analysis.
Nothing is impossible with God, His ways are higher than the ways of humans, and He is the beginning and the infinite end, who is the Total Aggregate to the testaments of all creations that clearly appropriate authority and reverence to His Supremacy and Greatness.
Another valid pointer from Jonah’s spiritual exhibition is that whoever God has ordained to serve His purpose (Destiny), nothing can stop it because the only Supreme authority has made it so. We can observe that Jonah’s attempted escape from God’s design in his life could not be altered. This simply reinforces the utmost need to put our trust in God to get us to where He has ordained for us to be in the span of His Glory. Put in simple terms, obedience leads to fulfillment to His Glory. The beauty of this message is that the purpose we have been individually assigned to are uniquely equipped with the tools to accomplish it. In Jonah’s case, the storms and the fish were part of the tools to fulfill his destiny, which was his mission or ministry in life.
Jonah was a reluctant preacher, whom God used so mightily to showcase to us the worthiness of prayer. Check this out! What would have happened if Jonah was still grumbling about his situation and never prayed? Two likely scenarios would have happened. First, he would have eventually died in the fish and lost his purpose and second, it would have been the painful, demeaning value of forgiveness, hope and the fulfilled promise to all who trust in God. However, by heavenly appropriation, Jonah was God’s perfect fit to signal to us how important fellowship, which is sincere communication of the heart emptying itself into His Majestic presence of Holiness, changes all situations. We see the magnification of praying even in the deep pit of almost no return would always turn the gauge of human life to the direction of fulfillment. Jonah, while in the belly of the fish, came to the reality of his relationship with God that should be harnessed with all vigor. This he did because he prayed like his last breath depended on it by pouring out his soul to God for restoration. The beauty of the episode is the encouraging ointment to our souls that God answers prayers and we should not relent in cultivating this provision of utmost assurance. Jesus Christ our Lord from time to time goes into seclusion to pray, which tells us that God cherishes fellowship with Him as a means of consuming and regenerating His Divine fullness into our lives.
We can also observe that God is always there for us even with our mistakes. He sees us with peace and restoration in His heart even with our mistakes, and would always use every available means to comfort and pick us up to a higher dimension of understanding and fellowship, when we also put in the efforts and keep working on ourselves to grow more in Him. This was the aspect Jonah was not too comfortable with in God and it happens to some of us too. That is, His mercies never end, which some could take as soft or weak because we live in a world where gentleness and civility are mistaken for softness. The book of Jonah is only 4 chapters but its significance touches virtually on all aspects of our faith. That is, it brings directly to our focus the mercy of God and His power over all things such as directing the waves and the fish, which obeyed. The book also touches on the significance of salvation by Christ Jesus, who went to the dungeon of the devil and its diabolical cohorts, which represented the belly of the fish, fought and won for our souls the everlasting victory of life over death.
Then, there is this issue in life we sometimes overlook or to some it is a fallacy. The issue is purely in the spiritual equation and the demonstration of power. Here is the message. In any crowd or assembly of people, there is always someone or more with the goodwill of God (Anointing) knowingly or unknowingly to the person. Also, there could be the power of darkness on some other person or more within the crowd too. One is to save or bring the divine presence there and the other carries the spell of destruction. Hence, in that gathering, whoever commands the atmosphere would manifest the purpose to save or destroy. Now, this power tussle or arrangement is not human deliberate construction but are spiritual alignments and realignments. The negative force always wants to suck blood because demonic growth uses human blood to bolster its reign or power. That is the reason killing and other vices that lead to destruction is the vocation, job and pastime of the enemy of mankind. This was the reason God used the perfect blood of Jesus Christ to stop and destroy the human blood sucking (Death) tendencies of the devil, which is God’s perfect Love to us. For God so loves the world… Therefore, in a situation, where the power of destruction in an individual is stronger than the other, the likelihood of human loss of lives or other negative influence would happen in that situation. However, when the power of the Holiness of God is in an individual, and is greater in that situation, there is safety to all and the shaping of value into the system. Jonah was a messenger of God, but his disobedience carried the judgment of destruction along, which almost claimed the lives of others as well. The point is that the other passengers were not the “good guys,”per say, the message is just to show how one person with disobedience, who was carrying the penalty of destruction almost brought death to others if it was unchecked. Perfect examples, by one man’s disobedience, Adam brought about sin and death on all mankind. Also, by one Man’s obedience, who is Christ Jesus, grace and peace, or salvation came onto all mankind.
In summing-up, these storylines of Jonah have lots of reflective parts to our faith works and walk in Christ Jesus, which we cannot touch on all. Nevertheless, the core takeaway with others already laid out is the encouraging and balanced connection that obedience to the will of God strengthened in the courage of prayer will usher in the love and happiness of God that is tied to purpose and fulfillment in life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Accordingly, we give God the Glory and Honor for His unstoppable riches in Christ Jesus into our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit…Amen!
Tell somebody about Jesus!
Menu