The Book Of Jonah: Living Opposed To The Lord

The Book of Jonah- an amazing and true story- is a great example of what it means to live opposed to the teachings of the Lord.

We all know that Jonah didn’t want to evangelize a sinful nation so he went to the port of Joppa and embarked on a ship leaving for Tarshish.

“He went down to the seacoast to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping that by going away to the west he could escape from the Lord.” (Jonah 1:3)

Nineveh was a powerful and wicked city and Jonah grew up hating the Assyrians. His hate was so strong that he didn’t want them to experience God’s mercy if they repented.

The book of Jonah, we learn that human beings can bring our anger and biases with us when we evaluate whether we obey a command or not. We may say “oh this isn’t that bad, no one will get hurt by this.” dismissing a command of the Lord. We rationalize why we can’t obey certain aspects of God’s commands or ways of doing things. But we must remember, we aren’t God. We can’t see the beginning from the end and He hasn’t changed, even though society has.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”(Is 55:9 NiV)

A Life of Obedience—even when it doesn’t make sense.

Sometimes obedience to God feels counterintuitive or even unjust from our human perspective. Jonah didn’t want the people of Nineveh to experience God’s mercy. To him, the Assyrians were too wicked to deserve grace. But Jonah’s resistance reveals how challenging it is to align our lives with God’s heart.

We often forget that people are born into circumstances and cultures that shape their beliefs and behaviors. Without the light of God’s Word, entire generations can repeat the same patterns of sin. Only God’s truth has the power to renew minds, remove spiritual blindness, and reveal a better way to live.

The book of Jonah shows us that God didn’t consider the people of Nineveh beyond hope. They simply needed to hear a Word from God. Without that divine intervention, they would have continued down a destructive path. God created the world with a specific order, and when we step outside of that order, we put ourselves in harm’s way.

That’s why obedience especially, when it’s hard to understand, is essential, not just for our own well-being, but for the sake of those God has called us to reach. Living like Jesus means trusting God enough to say yes, even when we don’t see the full picture. This is when prayer is essential, not running away or in our case-choosing distraction- but going to prayer for empowerment. This is how we access God’s power to do what we can’t do on our own.

Prayer Was Jonah’s Catalyst

When Jonah was swallowed by the whale he felt like he was going to die. It was in this desperation that he realized that his disobedience stripped him of his closeness to the Lord and this is when he desperately prayed:“They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercies.” (Jonah 2:8 KJV)

Let’s break this verse down:

“To observe” means to pay attention to, follow or regard.

“Lying vanities” are idols, deceptive hopes or anything that falsely claims to offer help, satisfaction or salvation apart from God. For instance: money, power, fame and even self reliance. Our so called “experts” that help us to get rich, thin, influential even a good leader, are actually offering false hope. They are steering us away from God unto imperfect human ideas. In the end, if we achieve our goal, we will find ourselves empty, not empowered to stay there and actually hurt in many ways. We need God’s indwelling power and guidance for everything in life.

“Forsake their own mercy.” Mercy is God’s exscusing our sin- in other words, we don’t get the punishment that we deserve. Therefore, when we forsake it, we turn away from God’s help. God won’t step in if we have chosen the ways of the world- which by the way is Satan’s territory. Satan desires to lead us away from God and towards anything else.

Jonah made the above statement from inside the belly of the great fish (Jonah 2:8). He had experienced the consequences of trying to run from God and realized that trusting in anything other than God is foolish, meaningless and dangerous. Not only that, we will miss out on God’s deliverance.

This powerful verse in the book of Jonah, is a call to reject false hope. No one can help us longterm. We must gain our hope, guidance and strength from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Live Like the Lord- Keep Watch For The Lost

If we want to live like the Lord Jesus, we must train our eyes and hearts to recognize those who are lost—those living far from the truth of the Gospel. This is what Jonah was called to do and so are we.

Whether we’re at work, walking through a grocery store, sitting on an airplane, or riding in an Uber, we should try to remain spiritually alert. Every moment in everyday life is an opportunity to reflect Christ and share His message, especially in the presence of our children.

When we boldly share the Gospel, we not only glorifying God, we participate in the eternal rescue of a soul. Unlike our temporary earthly identity, which won’t carry over into eternity, the souls we reach for Christ will. They are the true treasures we can take with us into heaven.

And when the day comes that we stand before God and review our lives, we won’t carry the weight of regret for living selfishly or chasing fleeting idols and pleasures. Instead, we’ll rejoice in having lived for what truly matters- bringing others home to the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only that, we are modeling Christian values for our children.

For more on the lessons in the book of Jonah, see my post: Idolatry here

Food For Thought,

Lisa