God’s Deep Mercy — through the book of Jonah

Jonah from Wikipedia

God’s Deep Mercy — through the book of Jonah

God’s mercy is unbelievably incomprehensible to us, being so abundant that we cannot even imagine it. This is clearly evident through the book of Jonah where God’s mercy overcomes Jonah’s reluctance and disobedience, someone who represents us in modern day.

~ Running from God ~ Jonah’s journey begins as God commands Jonah to set out for the great city of Nineveh so that he can save the city from wickedness. At the time, Nineveh was a large city that was feared by everyone for their extreme violence and cruelness to others. Instead of obeying God’s instructions, Jonah went down to Joppa to sail on ship, going to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3). This demonstrated how Jonah ignored God’s call and ran from him, trying to escape God’s presence. We should question ourselves, “How am I like Jonah?” When God tells us to do something that we feel uncomfortable to do, do we run from Him or do we accept and surrender to Him? When God commanded Jonah, he tried to escape because he felt uncomfortable and disliked it. The city of Nineveh was the most feared city and Jonah didn’t want to be part of it because he knew God was going to forgive his enemies. Jonah didn’t want that to happen because he thought that the people of Nineveh didn’t deserve mercy and forgiveness. It relates to our lives as whenever we are caught doing something sinful or unrighteous, we ask for forgiveness from God and others but when other people ask for mercy for their wrongdoing, we hold grudges. We believe that they don’t deserve mercy. That is why Jonah chose to flee from God’s presence but we cannot escape God because He is our salvation and life. Routines and objects can draw us far away from God like social media, friends, profanity, partying etc. When those distractions happen in our lives, we tend to run away from God which is why we need to endure to the end and sacrifice ourselves to the Lord. But often, we believe that God is getting in the way of our ‘fun’ and satisfaction. God is not coming to ruin our lives but to save us instead, offering His peace and mercy but in order to receive it we must surrender to Him and accept His offer of salvation. There are parts of our lives that we haven’t surrendered yet. Imagine God knocking on your door and you welcome Him in but he isn’t allowed to enter certain rooms. We must truly surrender everything to God in order to receive His grace and deep mercy.

~ God Pursues ~ Imagine a ball of yarn, its strings tangled and crumpled. Sometimes our life can represent that, being messy and chaotic. But that chaos and mess isn’t random. As Jonah ran from God, God sent a massive storm in the sea (Jonah 1:4). Our life might be tough but that’s because God sends trials and tribulations to test our faith and bring us closer to Him. Continuing into Jonah 1:5–16, in the midst of the raging storm, the sailors cast lots which were marked objects, tossed to see whose fault it was. The lot fell onto Jonah from God’s doing, leading the sailors to question who he was. After explaining who he was, the sailors unwillingly hurled Jonah into sea in order for the storm to calm down as Jonah claimed to be at fault, realising his wrongdoing. Soon after, God provided a fish to swallow Jonah so that he wouldn’t die in the sea. It ultimately illustrates how God pursues everyone from the sailors to Jonah and even the people of Nineveh. God intentionally uses the storm to help the sailors to be saved and to worship Him instead of the fake idols that they were worshipping, while saving Jonah who was going to die at sea by commanding a fish to swallow Him to set out to end Nineveh’s wickedness. It shows that God is constantly chasing us as we run from Him, eventually helping us to turn back to Him, showing his deep mercy to save us when we are lost and in desperate need of help.

~ Running to God ~ Have you ever wondered that when we sin and do wrong things, how does God react? What expression would He have? Jonah 2 clearly explains how God responds to our wrongdoings through his mercy for us. Jonah wanted to do things his way but God responded to it by providing a fish. Additionally, it showcases how God is in complete control, commanding the fish to swallow Jonah. As we dive deeper into Jonah 2, it describes a dark and eerie setting when Jonah was in the fish (Jonah 2:6). This unsettling experience from Jonah demonstrates the judgement of God, the separation between us and our Lord. God was giving the judgement Jonah deserves by being trapped in the fish, showing that it’s terrifying. There was nothing Jonah could do to save himself. The wages of Jonah’s sin is death because running from God means that you are running from the source of life. Furthermore, God’s judgement eventually caught up to Jonah when Jonah tried to run away. This relates to us as God might be warning us to stop running and if we keep on rejecting his warnings, judgement will come and catch up to us. But, even though Jonah deserves death, Jonah cries out to God, realising his wrongdoings and turns to Him for mercy. Afterwards, God responds by providing mercy to him by commanding the fish to spit Jonah out onto dry land (Jonah 2:11). When we sin or make bad decisions like how Jonah ran away from God, we should face the consequences but God responds back with his deep mercy, forgiving us if we turn to Him. Instead, we often look towards something instead to help us like phones, approval of others, achievements, social media and even ourselves. Those will not save us from God’s judgement but only through God alone. Salvation only comes through trusting in Him.

~ God Saves ~ Jonah set out to the city of Nineveh and announced the message that God sent him (Jonah 3:4). Once the people of Nineveh heard Jonah, they gave up their evil ways through a fast and put on sackcloth. Even the king stopped his evil doings. God’s word was able to change even the most wicked cities and God still provided mercy to the city, demonstrating his compassion and grace. Instead of giving judgement and what the city deserved, God forgave them. Even when we do the most evil sin, there is still hope because Jesus stepped in for us by dying on that cross and resurrecting 3 days later. God saved us from the darkness and has brought us to the light just like how God saved the city Nineveh from their evilness.

~ God’s Outrageous Mercy ~ When God forgave the people of Nineveh, Jonah was displeased about it. Jonah was having a tantrum because he thinks the scandal of mercy is taking place (God’s mercy is unconditional, giving us what we don’t deserve). Because of this, Jonah takes himself out of the city to see what would happen to it. Then, God provided a plant for shade to Jonah but the next morning, God sent a worm to wither the plant and provided a scorching wind. Jonah wanted to die but in Jonah 4:10–11, God replied to Jonah that he was concerned over the plant but did not care for it, eventually dying. This contrasted with what God was concerned about, being over the city of Nineveh. This shows that God’s care goes way beyond the human’s imagination.

~ Jesus and Jonah ~ The similarities between Jesus and Jonah are that Jonah sacrificed himself for the sailors like Jesus but he died and took it for all of us and that Jonah came to Nineveh to save the people living there just as Jesus came to us so that we can repent and be saved by His gracious mercy. In the end, Jonah couldn’t do this one thing and that was to love. But Jesus could. Jesus loves us so much that He took the death sentence for us, paying the wages of our sins.