God’s Incredible Love

What do you think of when you think of the story of Jonah in the Bible? Most people think of a fish or a "fishy" story. But the Book of Jonah is not a myth. It is a real story. Jonah is an historical person (2 Kings 14:25). Jesus talked about Jonah in Matthew 12:39-41. The Book of Jonah is a book about God’s love, how He loves imperfect people. It is an illustration of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world” and the Great Commission to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). These are also the core values of Christ Commission Fellowship.

From Jonah 1 we can learn four principles concerning God’s love: (1) God’s love is Proactive. (2) God loves People. (3) God’s love Pursues. (4) God’s love is Powerful - it transforms lives.

God’s love is proactive. He takes the initiative to love. In Jonah 1:1-3, God instructed Jonah, a prophet, to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, to cry out against them because they were very wicked. Did Jonah obey God? No! Jonah 1:3 says, “Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the
LORD.” Instead of following God, Jonah went in the opposite side to a land famous for its riches. He was running away from the Lord. Tarshish is symbolic of human self will, self-sufficiency, and pride. Every time you go against God because of your self will, you are guilty of the sin of pride and self sufficiency. Are you headed toward Tarshish or Nineveh? Your direction in life is crucial. Like Jonah, when we don’t obey God, we go down in our spiritual life.

God’s love is also about loving people. He loves imperfect people and He wants to use imperfect people like Jonah and like us to love people, those we like and those we don’t like. He wants to manifest His love through His people. When God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, he didn’t like the people and didn’t think they were deserving of God’s love so he didn’t want to go. Are we like that? When we don’t feel like loving someone, we think it would be hypocritical for us to love them. But that is not hypocrisy. Knowing what is right but not doing it is hypocrisy. We are to obey God even if we don’t feel like it and then the feelings will follow. It is called the principle of “Motion before Emotion”. Some of us like Jonah are heading in the opposite direction from God’s will because we are
following our feelings.

God’s love pursues. He pursued Jonah by sending a storm. “The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up…But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.” (Jonah 1:4-5) The pagan sailors were already crying out to their gods, but Jonah was asleep and oblivious of the storm like many Christians who are spiritually asleep. When the sailors drew lots to find out who was responsible for this calamity, the lot fell on Jonah. When they woke him up and questioned him, Jonah told the truth: “He said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.’" (Jonah 1:9) Then the sailors heard this, they grew extremely frightened.

Jonah 1:11-13 continues, “So they said to him, ‘What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?’ for the sea was becoming increasingly tormy. He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.’” Jonah finally connected the dots, and he assumed responsibility for his actions. He did not blame the captain, or the boat for the mishap. Instead, he looked at himself. He stopped running!

God’s love is powerful – it transforms. The pagan sailors finally called on the Lord, when they threw Jonah into the sea and the storm stopped (Jonah 1:14-16). God’s love transformed the sailors into worshipers and the boat became a place of worship! He can use even our failures as a witness to others as He did with Jonah when he assumed responsibility and stopped running. And God in His love, saved Jonah by appointing “a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish.” (Jonah 1:17, 2:1) But not to chew him! This was the first time that Jonah prayed.

If you are running away from God and His will, He will pursue you as He pursued Jonah because He loves you! He can send storms in your life and calibrate the storms to wake you up and get your attention. When the storms come, don’t blame others. Connect the dots, assume responsibility, learn from your mistakes,
get out of your comfort zones and return to God.

James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

So where are you headed? To Nineveh or to Tarshish?