I have this reoccurring theme that keeps popping up in my life: God is faithful despite my disobedience.
I am continually reminded that God is faithful. All the time. And in contrast, I am also reminded that I am not faithful. At least not all the time.
And this idea leads me to think, “if I’m not continually faithful to the Creator of the Universe, then how and why would He ever use me to bring His name glory?” That just seems crazy, right?
But then I’m reminded of Jonah. You see, for so long I thought the idea behind Jonah was that he was swallowed by a whale and miraculously lived through it. And that’s pretty cool if you think about it, but that story isn’t really something you and I can relate to so we quickly overlook it and move on to something more realistic. …something easier to believe.
I’ve recently discovered, though, that Jonah’s story and mine are SO similar. And I bet it could be the same for you. We just have to look at the whole story.
So why was Jonah swallowed by a whale??
Because God spoke to Jonah and told him to “Go” and preach to the city of Nineveh. But Jonah ran away. He didn’t want to travel to a distant town and tell people about God, so he tried to “flee from the Lord” (Jonah 1:3) and took refuge on a ship that was sailing away to Tarshish.
Good luck with that one, bud.
Long story short, God sent a storm that threatened to break the ship up. The crew tried throwing things overboard to lighten the load, but that wasn’t enough. They knew God was mad at Jonah for running away (he had told them this earlier), so they threw him into the sea (Jonah 1).
But the Word says, “the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah” (1:17).
I guess that’s one way to save him.
Jonah was inside the fish for 3 days and 3 nights, praying continuously, before God put him back onto solid ground.
This is the good part.
“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’ Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.” (Jonah 3:1-3)
God gives Jonah a second chance despite his disobedience.
But that’s not all.
Jonah did indeed go into Nineveh and preach, but he seemed to only do so halfheartedly. You see, the journey into the city takes 3 days, but Jonah only traveled one day (3:3,4). And even then he spoke only 5 words. That doesn’t really sound like something a dedicated servant would do.
However, as you and I already know, God is faithful.
After Jonah spoke, the whole city believed.
From the “greatest to the least” (3:5), they all believed God.
So this is what I feel like the true miracle of Jonah is: that God used a disobedient man and still made Himself known.
And that’s why I have so much hope and excitement built up for the next year of my life. I know I won’t always want to do what God is calling me to do. It’s scary, uncomfortable, and sometimes just plain difficult. But I know He could still use little insignificant me to bring His name glory throughout the nations.
And it starts with simply saying yes.
