Jonah--was a prophet, had previously prophesied for God (2 Kings 14:25), ran from God's call to Nineveh because of his selfish desire for Israel to stay superior to Nineveh, disobeyed God, which brought God's wrath on all those around him in the form of a violent storm, tried to commit suicide, was saved by a giant fish sent by God, reluctantly obeyed God the second time around, complained to God when his worst fears were realized, begged for death again because things weren't going his way, found relief under an overnight-growing tree, begged for death a third time because the tree died, and still never found compassion for the Ninevites.
God sure can pick 'em.
So why do we look to Jonah for inspiration and spiritual lessons to be learned? Because Jonah is us. You and me. The important thing is this:
Even though Jonah didn't want to be used, he was used. And as God planned to use Jonah to reach the Ninevites, he had to reach Jonah first. We can only assume that the unwritten part of Jonah's story found him ever-growing in the Lord.
The story of Jonah seems to be the part of God's word that is being used to reach a group of us at Stock Creek right now. So now that we have torn Jonah down, we will begin to build him back up in the coming days.
More to come.
