“Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice to You with thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.” Jonah 2:8,9
The Lord God has no problem creating a tempest at sea, which in the case of Jonah the prophet and those on board with him in a ship, was life-threatening to the point that every man was crying out to his god. Nor is it a problem for God to prepare a “great fish to swallow Jonah,” where he would remain in the belly of the fish for three days. However, there was a problem for God with Jonah, not that He could not take his life, just like He had brought him into the world, and set him aside to be His prophet in Israel, nor that He could not let him specifically die when the mariners in the ship threw him overboard in the storm. But the purpose of God transcended all that we see on the surface in Jonah’s story. Jonah would eventually sum it up in a simple declaration, which was also his profession of faith: “Salvation is of the Lord.” (Jon.2:9)
Contrary to what Jonah at one point believed, that he could flee “…from the presence of the Lord,” God would sovereignly work meticulously and wonderfully to save not only His prophet from his sinful, selfish pursuit, but save those who were in the ship with him, for they eventually “…feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.” God would go even further to save a king and his city, Nineveh, along with the people living there. The Great Savior of souls was intent and determined to save the most individuals to the uttermost, not only for their well-being, but principally for His glory, for it would be by the book of Jonah throughout the ages, almost three thousand years since it was written, that mankind has read, or heard the story of God’s mercy, grace, and goodness, and that He is not willing that any should perish.
The problem with Jonah, which resulted in God’s miraculous, and greatly humbling dealings with him, was his will. Because of the bitterness and resentment, he had in his heart for the Ninevites, as they were Assyrian, the enemies of Israel, and had inflicted great harm and suffering upon the children of Israel, his desire was that they should perish. He thus looked upon them as worthy to be judged by God. Because of that resentment, the will of Jonah changed in its loyalty. He no longer sought the will of God, but his own will. A man of great principle and commitment, Jonah set himself to defy God, embrace a foreign path of rejection of God’s desire and will to save Nineveh, with its 120,000 people. In choosing not to will to do the will of God, Jonah embraced the will of another, not only his own, but the very idol of godlessness that he preached against in Israel. This idol of proud self-will was worthless and had to be destroyed. The key was the changing of the “will of Jonah,” so that he again could see clearly, be delivered from his blindness and pride, to submit afresh to the authority of God.
Jonah thought that his life was over when the mariners threw him overboard. But God did not let him go. It took three days in the belly of a great fish, with the stench of rotting vegetation, and the flesh of other sea creatures, for Jonah to be brought to the place where he would no longer “regard worthless idols.” The darkness which he would know for three long days would penetrate his soul to the point of hopelessness, there remaining only lasting hope. Scripture tells us that Jonah said, “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord: And my prayer went up to You into Your holy temple.” (2:7) Jonah’s “God of salvation” saved the Ninevites, and Jonah his prophet, making him willing to do His will.
Dear Father, Make our “wills” Yours. In Jesus’ name, Amen.