Jonah's Journey to Grace

But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

Jonah 4: 10-11 

This Sunday we will be exploring God’s call by looking to the East and the story of Jonah, a Prophet God called to preach to the people of Nineveh.

Now technically, Nineveh is north of Israel - not east – but Jonah was so opposed to God’s plans that he ran as far from the direction of God’s call as he could. However, as far as Jonah run, He could not outrun the call of God on his life. So, when he finally came to the point of obeying God, Jonah had a long journey eastward ahead of him.

So why did Jonah run?

Jonah deliberately chose to run away from God’s call because he didn’t like the idea of God giving the people of Nineveh a chance to repent. Jonah’s history with the Ninevites was not a pleasant one, therefore he had an axe to grind against them.

Unfortunately, this is one of the challenges of living under God’s grace that all of us have to come to terms with. If we expect God to forgive us and our sin, then we also have to live with the possibility that God will forgive other people who may be different to us, or may have even hurt us.

In his journey to the east, Jonah found a new perspective as to how great God’s plan is. Jonah discovered that God was not only concerned about Jonah’s concerns but was also concerned about the life of every living thing.