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by Sandy Shaw
We move on to Jonah Chapter 3 verse 1 Jonah is on the point of being called again, after a rather disastrous start.
Paul remembered how John Mark had once deserted him on that first missionary journey, and a few years later Paul writes and tells Timothy to get Mark because he is helpful to me.
There is restoration and reconciliation in the Christian Life, and not always in that order.
God can intervene and rescue us from disastrous starts, and disastrous times, and disastrous circumstances and experiences.
It is not just back to church – and it is not just back to Jerusalem – with Jonah it is going to where I first called you to go – to Nineveh.
He has had to die a painful and humiliating death but now he is moving back into the Will of God.
Forgiveness is as much concerned with our future, as with our past.
When the wrong of the past is forgiven God looks for us to do what is right in the future.
Nineveh was a great and wicked city – a large evil city – decadent in its culture. There was murder and plunder. Nineveh was a city of violence It was affluent and luxurious.
Jonah, go to Nineveh – a most difficult place. God sends a man like Jonah to preach in this challenging and sinful situation.
It is better to go to Nineveh with God, than to go on a Mediterranean cruise, running away from God, and the Temple, and your calling.
Tell them what I tell you. You do not choose your subject, and you do not choose your text and content.
You will have no say in the content of your message.
There is only one kind of preaching – what God gives you.
Preach and teach what God tells you – not what people want to hear.
The customer is not always right. That is a psychological gimmick to increase sales!
God has given us this book, and it is to be preached and proclaimed and heralded and taught. Seed has to be sown.
His message is one of doom, death and damnation. “Six weeks I give them.”
Jonah preached that. He was not ashamed of his message. It was not a learned polished sermon. It was a word from the Lord!
Jonah takes nothing personally – rejection or acceptance.
Jonah is impartial in administering God’s Holy Word.
Jonah shows no partiality. Jonah does not go easy on certain people.
The whole of the Word is for all of us.
Why should we be obedient to God? Because He commanded it, so that we should prosper! We learn that in Deuteronomy Chapter 6.
Now, is that not the type of prosperity teaching which ought to be proclaimed and taught?
Can we be partially obedient? No. It has to be total, and King Saul realised that reality, and Samuel the prophet was brave and courageous to challenge him in this area.
Yes, Jonah has various lessons to teach us and other parts of Scripture support what we read in this important book which is often ignored and overlooked.
And, in answer to the question at the top of this article, a comment might be more than helpful and useful – only Almighty God is always right!
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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