Week 27 Day 188 (Jonah 1-4) July 6, 2020
God message to me and verse (s) to memorize:
17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 1:17 (KJV)
10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Jonah 2:10
1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Jonah 3:1 (KJV)
Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle? Jonah 4:10-11 (KJV)
WOW!!!! I don’t know where to start. This story of Jonah has so any lessons for us about the providence, sovereignty, mercy and love of God. It also teaches us how evil our hearts can be when even a preacher is upset with God for having mercy on people who repent and turn to God. Here is Jonah a preacher/prophet on a mission and he runs away because he doesn’t want to see these people saved. UNBELEIVABLE! I wonder why he hated them so badly?
What does this teach me about God?
We see God’s providence and sovereignty over his creation by preparing a fish to swallow Jonah, then speaking to the fish to spit in out, then preparing a worm to kill the tree (Ch4:7) and preparing the wind to beat upon on the tree. We also see his mercy in not only forgiving Nineveh but also how gentle he dealt with Jonah even though Jonah was angry with him.
Jonah being the the belly of the great fish (some says it was a whale) for 3 days was a type of Jesus being buried for 3 days. (Mt 12:39-40, Lk 11:30)