Spiritual growth is an interesting thing. It happens in fits and starts and often comes in painful ways. This was undoubtedly true for Jonah. So it is fair to ask if Jonah learned anything from his Nineveh odyssey. We can say unequivocally that he did, even though it is not stated. 

How do we know? Very simply, Jonah himself wrote the account. He is the only one who would have known all the details, and he wrote a very honest, candid, and transparent account of what happened, how God rescued him and gave him a second chance, the amazing response of the Ninevites as well as his racist and harsh attitude toward them. Oh, and then his bitterness toward God, selfishness, and sense of entitlement. It's all there. And it is only there because he learned something which he wanted others to also learn. 

All of us screw up. We all have multitudes of areas in our lives where our profession of Jesus does not match our praxis of the "Jesus life." We are broken images of God that He is re-imaging back into His likeness, and it can be a messy process. But the fantastic thing is that if we love God, there is always progress. Sometimes easy, mostly hard, and sometimes painful as we discard from our lives the selfish and sinful ways we gravitate toward and create new pathways of followership and obedience. 

Look back over the past six months of your life and ask yourself where you have seen progress in your spiritual life. The last year or the previous five years. Think about the circumstances that created the most growth as you yielded to God in difficult times. How has your own brokenness brought new and fresh change? 

I keep a journal. I don't always use it daily, but it is almost always with me and used regularly. Why? Because I want to remember what God is teaching me. I want to learn from my mistakes, challenges, and areas where I know He wants me to grow. It is really, in the end, a journal of growth. Sometimes messy like the story of Jonah, but one way or another, God breaks through our defenses and helps us see new paradigms of Himself and obedience.

One of the things I love about Jonah is that he didn't whitewash his actions or attitudes. What you see is what you get. He is honest about his feelings, and he is honest to God. There is no fancy evangelical church-type language in his discussions with God. He is raw, and he is candid. And in recording the whole thing, including the stunning rebuke of God to his racist and sinful attitudes, he is telling us that he heard and learned. No one would write what he wrote unless he wanted to record his own growth because there is nothing redeeming in his attitude. And evidently, Jonah had his own journal.

Here is something to remember about spiritual growth. Often it comes the hard way because that is when God has our attention. And often, God orchestrates circumstances in our lives to catch our attention. For example, when God gave Jonah a leafy plant to give him shade in chapter four, he got Jonah's attention. Then, when God allowed a worm to kill that plant, He got Jonah's attention again. In the end, God did not want Jonah to be comfortable but to catch his attention, and he did. God did this out of love for Jonah and so he would understand His heart for these people - and even their animals.

This is why I keep a journal. It is to reflect on life, God, and my spiritual journey and be aware of what God is trying to teach me at any given moment. Spiritual growth starts with a desire to grow and then an awareness of what God is doing in our lives. The more aware we are of Him and our need for renovation and growth, the better we are equipped to respond to His promptings and align our lives with His. 

Father, thank you for your tender love in my life, encouraging me to follow you better and know you more intimately. Help me to be sensitive to your leadership so that I develop your heart. Amen

The book of Jonah is about a missionary God and His desire for His people to have missionary hearts. A missionary heart desires for those who don’t know God to have a chance to respond to Him, hear His good news, and know He wants them to live in a relationship with Him. This kind of heart is so important because one-third of the people on our planet have never heard the name of Jesus or had the opportunity to say yes or no to him.

Scripture teaches us that we are lost without Jesus. Lost in our sin. Lost in our spiritual confusion and futile desires to find true meaning in life. And, even more importantly, lost from an eternal relationship with Jesus in this life and the next life. There is such a thing as heaven and hell. There is life with God and life without God. And the choice we make makes all the difference. But to make that choice, someone has to tell us there is a choice. 

Paul puts it this way in Romans 10:9-15. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

We are blessed to live in a country where access to the Gospel is commonplace. But we live in a world where that is not the case. Having traveled the world for most of my life, I have encountered how God is changing lives in every corner of our globe when there are people who are willing to go and share the Good news. That is what missionaries do! It is what Paul and Barnabus did in the New Testament. And it is what my parents did when they moved to Hong Kong in 1960. I saw firsthand what happened when the Gospel came to people who had not heard the Good news. 

In Egypt, there are cities called “garbage cities.” Like in Cairo, these cities are made up of the people who collect garbage and become the recyclers of that garbage. The trash is collected and spread out in their little villages up to the waist around their makeshift homes. Goats forage through and eat the food, and anything that can be recycled and sold is put into piles. Kids and adults all work in the garbage. Sanitation is almost non-existent, and everything in the makeshift home comes from the trash. Income may be two dollars a day which buys food.

Yet there is hope in this village. Egyptian Christians have established a school, clinic, and playground that is clean and safe. I have a picture of a wonderful family standing outside their home, with garbage all around, smiles on their faces, and a newborn baby in the arms of the mother. They are one of the few Christian families in the village, and their joy comes from their relationship with Jesus. Someone came and shared the good news, and they are the recipients of God’s goodness now and for eternity.

Never underestimate the investment in God’s work worldwide, especially investments that train indigenous leaders globally to do what they can do in their context better than we can. This is what people with missionary hearts do. It is why God asked Jonah to preach in Nineveh. You can help change lives for eternity through your efforts, financial commitments, and participation in God’s global work.

Father, thank you for your heart for people who have never heard of your goodness and love. Thank you for allowing me to help share the good news. Give me a missionary heart f

Chapter four of Jonah has to rank as one of the most humorous passages in Scripture. Humorous, except that it also speaks directly to you and me. “But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Jonah had gone out and sat at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade, and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm that chewed the plant, so it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” 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 be concerned for the great city of Nineveh, where there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

Jonah has such antipathy toward the Ninevites that he is outside the city in the scorching heat, waiting for the city to be destroyed. The Ninevites had treated him with respect, as evidenced by their repentance. But his anger at them and God’s goodness caused him to go to the desert and want to die.

Now you gotta say that Jonah was a pretty gutsy guy to tell God he had a right to be angry with him. The good news is that you can tell God anything, but this episode speaks to a deeper issue. That issue is whether we live for ourselves and our desires or God and His purposes. 

Here is a truth to consider. Life is not about me. It is not about you. It is about living in obedience and fellowship with the God of the universe and contributing to His purposes on this earth. Life is ultimately about God. Ironically, His purposes for us are the best we could ask for. He came to give us life and life abundant; John 10:10. It is when we go our own way for our own purposes that we get ourselves into trouble and lose our joy and focus. This was Jonah. He simply wants to die on the eve of a great victory for God’s purposes.

When we focus on fulfilling God’s purposes for our lives, we experience joy, peace, and significant fulfillment. But when we focus on ourselves and our selfish desires, these experiences elude us. Even though they are what we are searching for in our selfishness. It is a matter of focus. The evil one comes to steal, kill and destroy, while Jesus came to give us life and life to the full. Focus on God and His purposes, and we experience the best. But, focusing on ourselves and our selfish desires causes what we want to elude us. And ultimately, it leads to the depression Jonah finds himself in.

This is true even in ministry. Why do we join God in His work? If it is for our own recognition or reputation, we are operating out of selfishness rather than out of a desire to make God look great. In fact, that is the crucial difference: If my motivation is to make me look good, I am operating out of selfish motives. If my goal is to make God look great, I am where God wants me to be. Remember, life is not about me but about Him.

Father, I admit there are times I love to make myself look good rather than make you look great. Give me the right motivation today. Life is abo

Jonah’s mission to Nineveh had turned out to be a smashing, outstanding success. The people repented from the king on down. The people turned from their violent and evil ways, and God graciously relented and didn’t bring them the destruction he had threatened. You would think it was time to celebrate, praise God, and thank God for His goodness to Jonah and the people. This has to rank as one of the greatest revivals in history. 

But no. Jonah 4:1-4 says, “But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord when I was still at home? That is why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Wow, we say. But not so fast. Have you ever noticed that we want the best for people we know and like but not necessarily those we don’t? Or that we believe we deserve God’s goodness, but certain people we know don’t? This goes to how we see people. Jonah saw the Ninevites as undeserving pagans who didn’t deserve the grace that he knew God would give. He had a superior attitude toward the Ninevites rooted in the racial animosities between the Ninevites and the Israelites. 

This is a global problem of sinful racial attitudes. Actually, it is not always racial, as anytime we look down on another or a group of people we disapprove of, we do the same thing Jonah did. We are taking a superior attitude that assumes we deserve better than others. And we could not be more wrong. 

God says to Jonah in chapter 4:11: “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 was willing for all 120,000 people to perish than to have God spare them. That is what happens when we demonize other groups, see ourselves as superior, or consider one group more important than another. 

God’s concern for the Ninevites was very different from Jonah’s. God saw the Ninevites, evil though they may have been, as people made in His image. As we all are. We are flawed images, to be sure, because of sin, but every person you meet is made in God’s image and a potential Son or Daughter of the King of the universe. This is why CS Lewis wrote, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.” Every person you talk to has an eternal soul, was created in God’s image, and He sent His son to re-image broken images through his death and resurrection. So there are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

If this is true, how we see, treat, and love those different from us is of eternal importance. If I kept a list of all the groups that Christ followers I know look down on and treat as inferior to them, the list would be long. And having traveled extensively across this globe, that attitude can be found everywhere. People speak derisively of certain immigrants, groups with an alternate lifestyle from theirs, countries that they think are backward and pagan, and/or maybe the panhandlers on all the major intersections in our cities. That attitude affects how we interact, minister to, and treat people in those categories, whatever they are. 

We say at Forest City Church that we are a church with long tables and low walls. We will always put another leaf in the table for the next one who wants to come. They come to a place of radical hospitality, acceptance, grace, diversity, community, and fellowship around the person of Jesus Christ. All are welcome and safe, no matter how broken. All are appreciated and honored regardless of ethnicity, generation, background, or beliefs. All are invited to a long table where grace and love are the languages, and the magnetic love of Jes

The book of Jonah raises some interesting issues related to God in the Old Testament. For example, some think the Old Testament God is different from the New Testament God. Or in the Old Testament, God is portrayed as harsh and vindictive, while in the New Testament, God is described as loving and kind. 

The book of Jonah challenges those incorrect assumptions. Think about this. No one in the ancient world DID NOT want the Ninevites to be destroyed. They had treated everyone around them with violence and ruthlessness. They were the bad boys on the block, and no one wished them well.

No one, except God. In fact, later in the book, which we will examine later, God says this to Jonah. “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.” What is stunning is that God would care about these bad boys, but He does. That is a heart of compassion. That is God’s heart.

Think back to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose violence and treatment of visitors to the city gave it a reputation that was not unlike that of Nineveh. The Lord had determined to judge the five cities of the plain called Sodom and Gomorrah, and he told Abraham that the outcry against the cities “is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

Abraham asks the Lord, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous people in it?... The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people…I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Then Abraham says, what if you find 45 righteous people, and the Lord says, for the sake of 45, I will spare it. So Abraham asks about 40, then 30, then 20, and finally ten, and God says, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” Think about this. God would not judge the cities if there were just ten righteous people. He would spare the cities for the sake of ten. 

God hates evil and violence and injustice and unrighteousness. But He is equally concerned for those He created, and time after time, throughout the Old Testament, you see His patience, grace, and opportunity for people to repent or change their ways.

Psalm 8 reminds us of His love for His people. “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants, you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”

You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim in the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” 

The God of the Old Testament is the same as the New Testament. The difference, of course, is that we see God in the flesh in the New Testament in the person of Jesus. That changes everything because we see God up close and personal. We see how He interacted with people and His amazing grace. But make no mistake, the book of Jonah showcases that grace and love as well. And because of His compassion, Sin City was not destroyed when they repented. 

Father, help me to see your gracious and righteous plan throughout the Scriptures. Thank you for your deep concern for all that you created and help me to have the same concern for people as you do. Amen

The Christian life is a life of repentance. That is the way of the cross. At the cross, Christ died and was raised to life so that we could die to sin and be raised as new people in His kingdom. It starts when we ask Him to be our Savior, but it continues daily as we live cruciform lives. That is the true Christian life, daily taking up our cross to follow Him. So likewise, salvation starts with repentance, but it continues daily as we work with the Holy Spirit to strip out of our lives the stuff that does not please God and put on those attributes of the Spirit that do. Seen in that light, repentance is a lifestyle rather than a one-time event.

I love how the author of Hebrews puts this. In Hebrews 11, we have the pantheon of heroes of the faith: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Samson, David, Samuel, and many more who lived lives of radical faith. Then in chapter 12:1-3, with these heroes of the faith in mind, the writer says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

The highest calling we could be called to is a life of radical faith and followership of Christ. But what gets in the way of that calling? As the writer says, those things that hinder and the sin that so easily entangles. Think about that description of sin. It entangles us. It distracts us. It holds us back. It weighs us down. It gets in our way and keeps us from running the race with freedom and energy.

What does the author tell us to do? He says, "Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles." Throw it off, get rid of it. In fact, do the same with things that may not be sinful but hinder our forward progress with Christ.

CS Lewis put it this way: "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased." 

Satan loves to present us with substitutes for the life that Jesus wants us to have, but they are cheap and meant to detract from our happiness, joy, and service. This is why Paul often talks about a lifestyle where we take off those things that are not pleasing to God and put on those things that are. This is not a one-time thing but a daily choice.

Listen to Paul's comments in Ephesians 5. "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible - and everything illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: "Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand the Lord's will."

Genuine repentance is a daily practice. It is choosing to say no to sinful practices that displease God and hold us back. And to say yes to Him and choose to follow Him in joy and obedience.

Father, remind me today of things you find displeasing in my life so I can run the race without distractions or entangling sin. Give me the will to throw these off so I can run my race with perseverance. Amen.

Do you like short sermons? Here is one of the shortest sermons in History, Jonah 3:4. "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth."

The Ninevites knew who the God of the Jews was. They had conquered the Jews several times. Everyone in the neighborhood knew who Yahweh was. So how in the world did this short message bring about the repentance of a whole city? And a pagan audience at that, who had been antagonistic toward the Jews. 

There was nothing sophisticated about Jonah's sermon. They could probably read his attitude of disgust toward them. It would have been hard to hide. Yet the whole city repented. How did that happen?

The answer is straightforward. It is God who convicts us of our sin and need. Not persuasive words. I have preached messages that were not that great and had people come to me and tell me how transformative it was. That is simply the Holy Spirit working in their hearts, regardless of what I said. Sometimes I wasn't even speaking on the topic that touched them. It is God who works in our hearts to bring change. It is the Holy Spirit. It is always the Holy Spirit.

This is how Paul described his preaching to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. "And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on God's power."

Did you catch that? "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power."

Remember this: If God is convicting you, pay attention. Pay attention if He grips your heart on something because He is speaking. The Ninevites paid attention, and they were spared disaster. It was not Jonah's compassion or creative message that got their attention but the Holy Spirit.

If we want a movement of God in our congregations, we need to pray that the Holy Spirit will work among us. If we want to see a church of long tables and low walls where everyone is welcome, we need to pray that the Holy Spirit will show up. In every epistle of the New Testament that Paul wrote he speaks of his prayer for the people in that congregation. How often do we pray for our congregation? 

It is prayer and the Holy Spirit that change people and motivate congregations to great things. We can have the best strategy and plan, but nothing will happen without God's power through His Spirit. In fact, the seven most scary words in Scripture are in John 15, where Jesus says, "Without me, you can do nothing."

Here is the funny thing. Jonah didn't even want the Ninevites to repent, but they did when God touched their hearts. So it all comes back to the Holy Spirit.

Remember when God touches you to pay attention to His Spirit. Remember to pray that God will be at work in your congregation. Remember when you minister to people who don't know Him that it will be the Holy Spirit that convinces them, not you. So talk to them and minister to them but talk more to God, who can change their hearts.

Father, thank you for the incredible power of your Spirit that could move an entire city to repentance with a very short one-sentence sermon. Remind us that it is always through your power that people change. Help me to be a person of prayer for others.

We read this in Jonah three. "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." The Ninevites believed  God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened."

This is an amazing reaction to Jonah's teaching. Obviously, word spread quickly through the vast city. It may well be that Jonah's recent story was also known. I can imagine that he was bleached white from the acids in the fish's stomach and probably looked like death warmed over and was impossible to ignore. Whatever the cause, fear of God's impending judgment gripped the city from the king on down. 

Sackcloth was the rough, cheap cloth used to transport grain. Putting on a sackcloth was a sign of humility and contriteness. It should be noted that the Ninevites, although much stronger than Israel, would have known of the Israelite God and the things God had done. They knew enough to believe that Jonah's prediction of their imminent destruction was a real threat. Besides, this was literally called Sin City in the day, and they also knew that whatever God did, they richly deserved it. So the king called everyone to turn from their evil ways and the violence that they were known for.

In this series, we have recognized God as a "Missionary God." Think about this. The Ninevites were evil and violent people. And their evil had reached a level that God would no longer ignore. Yet, despite their wickedness, God chose to give them a chance to repent - and they did. And in response, the text says, "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened." Jonah wasn't happy with God's grace, as we will see. The Israelites wanted the Ninevites totally destroyed. But the heart of God is not our heart. He does punish unrepentant evil, but His heart is that people repent and choose to follow Him. His heart is a heart of grace and love. 

There are times with nations that God brings circumstances so dire that its people wake up and recognize their need for God. In the United States, we have had two Great Awakenings where hundreds of thousands of people came to Christ. I pray for that to happen once again. But unfortunately, it does not occur in good times but in hard times when we recognize our need for God's intervention.

In our lives, God can allow circumstances that also cause us to pay attention to Him. He loves us so much that He wants to get our attention and wants us to turn from those areas of sin that we know are not in alignment with His will for our lives. 

Repentance is a beautiful thing. When we repent, we declare that we will follow Jesus rather than our base desires. Repentance leads to God's blessing as it did with the Ninevites. It is a reminder and invitation for us to do the same today.

 

Father, thank you for your incredible patience and love. And thank you for not leaving me in my sinful ways b

With Jesus, no failure is final if we are willing to repent and once again follow. Jonah discovered this about his God having prayed the prayer of a man in deep need. And so we read at the end of Jonah 2 and the beginning of Jonah 3, And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.

Notice that God’s call and instructions had not changed. What had changed was Jonah’s willingness to listen and obey. I don’t know about you, but I am a member of the second chance club. Maybe the third or fourth chance group. Life gives us plenty of opportunities to fail and start over. That has been my story and I suspect you have your own stories on this front. 

I remember a time when I had gone through a very traumatic season and I questioned whether God could still use me. A friend flew halfway around the world to spend a weekend with me, listen to my story, pray with me and encourage me. I will never forget his words. God is a God of second, third, fourth, chances. People may not want you to succeed but He always does. Don’t worry about what people think, but only what God thinks. He is the God of second chances, third chances. He wants to use you and He wants to bless you.

I know many who carry great wounds. Some are self-inflicted, some are inflicted by others. Some are even inflicted by God’s people who can be cruel and unkind. They make you question your usefulness to God. They make you question your worthiness to serve Him. Sometimes the shame, real or imparted on you by others, just wants to make you curl up in a ball and become invisible. It can be deeply painful. But wait!

I think of Jesus and Peter. You remember that Jesus had told Peter that he would betray Him and Peter said that would never ever happen. Yet it did on the very night of Jesus’ crucifixion. When Peter realized what he had done he was devastated. I cannot imagine the guilt, sadness, and depression that Peter must have felt over his betrayal of His Lord. In terms of screwing up, it doesn’t get much better than this.

In one of the most poignant scenes in the New Testament, Jesus meets His disciples on the beach. You remember that he called out to them in their boat and asked if they had caught anything. They said no. He told them to cast their net on the other side of the boat and they were nearly swamped with fish. Peter immediately realized it was Jesus, jumped into the water and swam to shore. 

After eating breakfast together on the beach, we read this account. It is found in John 21 and is the close of the Gospel of John. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”  Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

You remember that Peter had betrayed Jesus three times. Now, Jesus asks him three times, “Do you love me?” There were no words of recrimination, no accusations, no reminding Peter of his betrayal. Just three questions and His final statement. “Follow me.” That is the God of second chances. That is grace. That is mercy. That is God’s love. 

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There is nothing more amazing than the grace of God. One of my favorite authors is Brennan Manning, who wrote, among other books, The Ragamuffin Gospel. In His autobiography, "All is Grace," he writes this:

"My message, unchanged for more than fifty years, is this: God loves you unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be because nobody is as they should be. It is the message of grace…A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long the same wages as the grinning drunk who shows up at ten till five…A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin, wraps him up, and decides to throw a party. No ifs, ands, or buts…This grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us…Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover. Grace is enough…Jesus is enough."

Grace is enough. This is what Jonah was about to experience. He is doing battle with God, but God, rather than doing battle with him, simply gives him grace. That is our God.

We pick up the story in Jonah 1:11. "The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, "Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased." Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this, the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights."

Jonah fully expected to die that day. But, and it is a big but….God chose to give him grace and preserve his life by providing a huge fish to swallow him. And in case you think that's got to be a fable, Jesus spoke of the event in the Gospels as an actual event. He believed it, and I do as well. 

You see, God is consistent. He is consistent in wanting people to repent and follow Him. He consistently gives people second, third, and fourth chances in his love. He is consistent in wanting us to repent. And most of all, He is consistent with his amazing grace in our lives. Yes, He pursues us when we resist. And yes, He wants our obedience. But, (and it is a big But…) he does so with grace time and time and time again. 

Again, my friend Brennan Manning on God's grace: "That in the end, my sin will never outweigh God's love. That the Prodigal can never outrun the Father. That I am not measured by the good I do but by the grace I accept. That being lost is a prerequisite to being found. That living a life of faith is not lived in the light; it is discovered in the dark. That not being a saint here on earth will not necessarily keep you from being in that number when the march begins.

The big fish God deliberately provided was a gift of grace. Jonah thought he would die, but God said I will rescue you. Jonah thought he was done, but God said I will reboot your mission. As Manning says, "But if I've learned anything about the world of grace, it's that failure is always a chance for a do-over." And that is what God is doing with Jonah.

Father: Thank you for your grace. Undeserved, often unasked for. Always surprising when we experience it. Thank you….thank you. Amen