Day 19 - Reluctance toward God's Call

Jonah 1:1-3 (ESV) - Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”  But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
(READ JONAH 1)

Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist in J.R. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit had a predictable and comfortable life in the Shire. That changed the day he became a reluctant participant in a band of unpredictable dwarves, setting out on a dangerous quest to recover its treasure from a murderous dragon. Baggins engages in heroic acts—sometimes in spite of himself—as he slowly reimagines his place in life.

The Hebrew prophet Jonah is another example of a reluctant protagonist. God gives Jonah challenging marching orders: preach judgment to the pagan city of Nineveh. Nineveh (near Mosul in present-day Iraq) was the powerful capital of the Assyrian empire, a city known for its cruelty and evil. Sitting in Palestine, some 700 miles from Nineveh, Jonah flees to the port city of Joppa and catches the first ship to Tarshish (modern-day western Spain), over 2,200 miles in the opposite direction—the farthest anyone could get from Nineveh.

Reluctance was a powerful force in Jonah’s life and, for a while, it kept him from participating in God’s merciful and forgiving plans for Nineveh. The story does not end there. As Jonah is on the ship to Tarshish, stormy seas ensue, Jonah is tossed overboard by the crew and is swallowed by a huge fish, in whose stomach he languishes for three days. Scripture records that “from inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. ‘In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.’” The fish vomits Jonah onto dry land and Jonah gets another chance.

The circumstances surrounding God’s mercy to Jonah were dramatic and remarkable and helped free Jonah’s reluctant spirit. God gives Jonah a second chance and Jonah responds by going to Nineveh. As a result, the evil and violent city of Nineveh repents and experiences the mercy of God. The story does not have a neat, tidy ending. Jonah is upset at God for extending mercy to Nineveh (vs. 4:1), surely not the perfect hero one would imagine—but one that God began to use.



PONDER:  In what way might reluctance be preventing you from taking a step that might result in someone experiencing God’s grace or mercy?

REFLECTION or DISCUSSION
We see God’s unending love and mercy with His people over and over again in the Bible. In the book of Jonah, God asks Jonah to deliver a message to the people living in Nineveh. The people there were indulging in all of the pleasures of this world without giving a thought to God. When Jonah heard God’s call, he tried to flee in the opposite direction. In the end, God gives Jonah a second chance and Jonah is able to preach to the Ninevites, and God has mercy when they repent.

Read Jonah 1:1-3 again. Jonah tried to run away from God’s plans but God gave him a second chance. When have you been given a second chance? Why do you think God gives us second chances?