“But Jonah ran away from the Lord…” and we know the famous story of Jonah and the great fish that swallowed him and took him into the deep. When the Lord spoke to him again, “this time Jonah obeyed.” We’d hope he would obey after that ordeal! Beyond saving over one hundred thousand people from destruction, Jonah himself had lessons to learn. Jonah needed to overcome fear, prejudice, disobedience and selfishness. Through the Nineveh journey, it seems the Lord was teaching him to replace those negatives with love, mercy, obedience and humility.
By the end of Chapter 4, we don’t know if Jonah had yet learned what the Lord wanted to teach. Although living for three days in the belly of a fish is pretty outrageous, it gave Jonah the time he needed to pray to the Lord his God. On occasion, a person may need to be deep in a circumstance in order to properly respond to the Lord. Jonah’s story is a strong reminder of the Lord’s presence with us amid great challenges. He’s listening to our prayers when we are in the belly of the trial. He gives us courage and second chances to do the right thing. He is patient with us and continues to teach us character-building lessons, love-infused lessons. His mercy reigns in the deep and on the shore. ~Tracy