Jonah 1 -- God's Love & God's Will

“The book of Jonah is about the will of God and how we respond to it.  It’s also about the love of God and how we share it with others,” my commentary said.

“To Jesus, the will of God was food that satisfied Him; to Jonah, the will of God was medicine that choked him … God commanded the prophet to go to Israel’s enemy, Assyria, and give the city of Nineveh opportunity to repent, and Jonah would much rather see the city destroyed … Jonah’s narrow patriotism took precedence over his theology.  Jonah forgot that the will of God is the expression of the love of God, and that God called him to Nineveh because He loved both Jonah and the Ninevites.”

“When the Word of the Lord came to him, Jonah though he could take-it-or-leave-it.  However, when God’s Word commands us, we must listen and obey.  Disobedience is not an option.”

Jonah lost the voice of God (God was no longer speaking to him through His Word), his spiritual energy (sleeping through the storm), and his power in prayer (he slept through the prayer meeting the sailors were having).  And he lost his testimony, my commentary said.

“Charles Spurgeon said that God never allows His children to sin successfully, and Jonah is proof of the truth of that statement … For us to rebel against God’s will, as Jonah did, is to invite the chastening hand of God … We glorify God by enjoying His will and doing it from our hearts, and that’s where Jonah failed.”

Father, thank You for the reminder that Your will is an expression of Your love for me, and that You lead me to it to lead me through it to see Your love.  Help me not to rebel against Your will and therefore Your love.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford