I know what you’re thinking! Jonah and the whale is a story that we know so well, so why the heck would you read a blog post about it? Here’s why: I believe it’s a truly powerful testament to not only the evidence of God’s grace, but also the way disobedience can alter our lives. I really began thinking about how alike Jonah and I are as I read through Jonah this past week.
I felt the call to minister at a very early age; the first pricks of my heart began at age ten and when I was fifteen I spoke for the first time in front of a congregation. For a season, I leaned so far into it, writing and speaking and letting the Lord lead. Then life got hard and like Jonah, I ran from the Lord. We all know how the story goes and just like Jonah, I wound up in the belly of a whale, which i believe for a lot of people symbolizes the feeling of hitting rock bottom in result of disobedience. It’s in that space of darkness that we often times find the Lord for the first time or ask Him to meet us exactly where we are.
One of the most important lessons that I’ve learned from Jonah is that God’s mercy and forgiveness knows no bounds. While our disobedience often finds us in the worst places, He is eager to rescue us from the depths of darkness and He will every single time, using every means necessary to do so. God doesn’t wait for us to get everything perfect or clean up our act before He comes to rescue us, He does it in spite of wherever we’re at and I think that’s the biggest testament to how much He truly loves us. He loved the NinevitesĀ in the same way, using the sea and its creatures and a stubborn man to allow the Ninevites to be saved.
Wherever you are in your season, I ask you to take time and reflect on these truths. If God is willing to go to these lengths to save a sinful and evil nation, how much more is He willing to do for you?
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