November 28, 2022

Jonah 1  (HCSB)
Jonah’s Flight
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their wickedness has confronted Me.” 3 However, Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, from the Lord’s presence. 4 Then the Lord hurled a violent wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. 5 The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep. 6 The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god. Maybe this god will consider us, and we won’t perish.” 7 “Come on!” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots. Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us who is to blame for this trouble we’re in. What is your business and where are you from? What is your country and what people are you from?” 9 He answered them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship Yahweh, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, “What is this you’ve done?” The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence, because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, “What should we do to you to calm this sea that’s against us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse. 12 He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so it may quiet down for you, for I know that I’m to blame for this violent storm that is against you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t because the sea was raging against them more and more. 14 So they called out to the Lord: “Please, Yahweh, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood! For You, Yahweh, have done just as You pleased.” 15 Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. 16 The men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 17 Now the Lord had appointed a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights.

Erin Robertson
"Nineveh, oh, Nineveh/The Lord is turning toward you/ Compassion or calamity/ Will you heed the warning?" "Nineveh" by Brooke Ligertwood.  As you read through Jonah this week, I hope you check out the song above.  I will be quoting a few lyrics along the way! When reading chapter 1, I have to remind myself of why Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh.  It wasn't because he didn't trust God, or that he's afraid to share about God's love and wrath. Spoiler-Jonah 4:2 tells us why (go read it!). Is that you? Are you like Jonah, hesitating to share about God's forgiveness because you don't want to see God bless them? We want cruel people to suffer, don't we? We don't want to see them blessed. But, what if you aren't always Jonah-what if you are Nineveh?