Jonah – God’s Grace in Mankind
Through Jesus Christ, we have attained a gift that we don’t deserve, and that is grace. God’s grace to love and even forgive our sins is something we can’t imagine having for free but with Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb, we have already been given grace. It is the most perfect gift that is attached to the salvation we have been given. Imagine getting the most expensive gift from someone without having to do anything. You will feel undeserving right?
Just like the past blogs about this series, we have learned from David that there is more to his story than just being named to be “the man after God’s own heart”, and from Esther that there will always be a right time and the right season that God has called you to be in and when you choose to obey, it will impact a whole generation, and then from Joseph, being disappointed may hurt but knowing that it may lead you to God’s Appointment to your destiny in your life, then just choose to look at the purpose you have.
Now, being a servant of God requires you to do a lot, sacrifice a lot, go through a lot and see people a lot. This servant of God has experienced greatly that when you choose to flee from what God is telling you to do, then you will put yourself and others in a situation that you never want to experience. Jonah, a faithful servant of God, is tasked to go to Nineveh to spread God’s Word and let them repent to be able to be saved from God’s wrath. However, Jonah, knowing how stubborn the people are from that land, didn’t want to go and did everything he could so he could flee from God’s instructions.
Just like Joseph, when he had to meet all the disappointments just to be able to meet the appointment God has set before him. Jonah had to learn that fleeing from God’s instructions, he had to face the storms in the sea that made him be thrown into the sea, then a great fish swallowed him and let him stay there for days. It wasn’t easy, although these days, it will not be that way. Sometimes God lets you meet the unexpected and uncomfortable situation that lets you realize the importance of obedience. Delayed obedience is still disobedience. In disobedience, there will always be consequences you need to face in order for you to learn and grow so that the next time you’ll face a challenge on obeying or not, then you would know the right thing to do.
God was about to send a disaster towards Nineveh but when He sees that the people there will repent then He will not continue to destroy the land. And so, Jonah then went to the land of Nineveh and preached God’s Word, and when God saw their actions and words are full of repentance, God did not destroy their land and has given them grace. But Jonah ended up getting mad at God for He showed compassion and grace towards the people of Nineveh, but the Lord answered him and told him how his grace is towards mankind.
Sometimes, in life, there are times where we disobey and face the consequences of our actions. However, it is God’s grace that helps us overcome it all for he gives us strength to carry on, wisdom, knowledge, and the peace that even if we did something wrong, He forgives and His grace is all-sufficient. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, it says, ‘But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.’
In your own strength, you will fail but God giving you the grace in your life and showering you with it is unmerited favor. That’s how God is towards mankind. If He was able to give His only and only Son, Jesus as a sacrificial lamb for your sins, then how much more in your daily needs. It is by grace that you are saved. If God is gracious enough to forgive the people of Nineveh then how much more with you. Jesus made you worthy of that grace and so He wants us to enjoy the grace that He has given us and maximize it in our lives.
The Salvation Garden is committed to bringing you closer to God both in prayer and in His Word. Through this series of blogs, we pray that you will be more equipped in facing the trials in life but also we aim to bring your prayers to the Holy Churches in the Holy Land.
If you haven’t read the Prayer Series, the Guidelines to God’s Word, or this new series, Learning from the Bible Characters then you may go and visit https://www.thesalvationgarden.org/ to read more articles about different topics you may need to see.
