You may remember the Sunday school stories, but read the real account of the prophet Jonah’s story of running away from God. He is not running away because he doesn’t want to prophesy, he is running away because he doesn’t want God to forgive and save his enemies. You are going to love this book as you get to know this super emotional, vengeful prophet that takes some ‘time-out’ in a whale on his way to take God’s message to Nineveh so God can save a city!
Welcome to our first prophetic book in our TYB Balance schedule – the book of Jonah. We have changed writing style and are now into the books that describe the lives and messages of the Old Testament prophets. These men of God that brought the Word of the Lord to the people of Israel, most of the time warning them of what was to come if they did’t turn to God.
Not many of the Old Testament’s have garnered more renown than that of Jonah. This is primarily due to the most sensational feature of the book - the whale (or, as some are swift to interject, the ‘big fish’). However, Jonah is not about a whale…not entirely, at least.
How do we respond to God’s call on our lives? Some of the greatest biblical characters said, “Here I am!” (Abraham (Gen 22:1, 11); Moses (Ex 3:4); Samuel (1 Sam 3:4); Isaiah (Isa 6:8)). What a response! But before we think that all these characters are models of how to respond to God with zeal, and we ponder how we can live up to them we should pause and consider what happens next in their lives.