Join us as we embark on a deep dive into the Book of Jonah, exploring themes of God’s boundless compassion and human disobedience. Through the lens of Jonah’s story, we learn about the consequences of fleeing from divine missions and the intricate relationship between obedience and divine purpose. Our guest reader Oda Nordpol from Norway brings fresh insights and youthful energy to the narrative, enhancing our understanding with her unique reflections.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Alan J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
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Today we begin the book of Jonah. I’ll use my English Standard Version Study Bible book introduction to help us understand this famous Old Testament book. The title is the name of the main character, Jonah. Not because he is the author, though, because the author is unknown. He prophesied in the reign of Jeroboam, so the book was probably written in the late 700s BC. There’s a famous story of Jonah and the whale. The theme is God’s boundless compassion, not just for us, Jonah and the Israelites, but also for them, the pagan sailors and the Ninevites. The primary purpose of Jonah is to engage readers in the theological reflection on the compassion of God and in self-reflection, determine how we reflect that compassion in the world that God made and deeply cares about. What will we see in the book of Jonah? Well, have you ever done anything wrong? Jonah did. but he repented and God used him. It can happen to you. We also will see God’s salvation is just as strong for Gentiles as for Jews. It’s also not our call to determine who is worthy of God. God sought out Nineveh as much as you and me. We’ll also see the eight-word sermon of Jonah to Nineveh. And finally, Jonah is more than a fish story. It’s four chapters long. We’ll take them one a day. Our guest reader for the Book of Jonah is Oda Nordpol from Sajay, Norway, a small town on the west coast of Norway. She is 16 years old, a high school student who enjoys English, mathematics, and P.E. She loves to swim in those cold lakes in Norway. I met Oda through the Gideons International. Her father, Cora, is a trustee on the International Cabinet of the Gideons, and he represents Norway. Terry and I have been to Norway three times on Gideon assignments, and we went to the Nordpol home and we spent time with them and Oda, a bright, engaging, committed Christian teenager. She started listening to AdBible after our last visit. She says, Often I find it difficult to find time and energy to read the Bible, but with AdBible I can listen, reflect, and pray over the text I’ve read. This helps me understand, learn, and have more peace in my everyday life and always be reminded of what God has done for me and how lucky I am. Oda will read a couple of the chapters of Jonah. We’ll listen to the others by Faith Comes by Hearing. Faith Comes by Hearing provides us drama recordings of the Bible that we use when we don’t have a guest reader. So we’ll begin with Jonah in chapter 1 with the recording from Faith Comes by Hearing. Let’s listen in.
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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.
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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 on board to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid and each cried out to his God, and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, What do you mean, you sleeper?
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Arise, call out to your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. And they said to one another, Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.
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So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
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Then they said to him, Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you?
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And he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.
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Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, What is this that you have done? For they knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them.
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Then they said to him, What shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us?
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For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.
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He said to them, Pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.
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Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.
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Therefore they called out to the Lord, O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.
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So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
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To help us through the book of Jonah, I’ve selected three of my personal daily Bible reading journals. I started journaling in 1983, and I’ve journaled for over 35 years. So for this book, I’ve selected a journal from 1991 when I read the Old Testament, and 2010 when I read 40 books, including 13 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books, and 2013 when I read 25 books, 12 Old Testament and 13 New Testament. Most of the time, you read Jonah all in one sitting because it’s only four chapters. That’s the case in two of my three journals. But to introduce us to the book of Jonah, I’ll share from that first journal in 1991 when I was 36 years old. After reading Jonah, the whole book I wrote, this book is not about a fish. It is about a man who didn’t want to do what God wanted him to do. Jonah knew what God wanted, but he went the other way. God saved his life and asked him to do the same thing he asked for the first time. The people repented, so Jonah got mad, pretty selfish. God demonstrates his sovereignty over a city of 120,000 people and an individual named Jonah in this book. I’ll skip my journal from 2010 and jump to the one from 2013 because there I read Jonah a chapter a day. After reading Jonah chapter 1, 22 years later, when I was 58 years old, I wrote, The word of the Lord came to Jonah, but Jonah rose up to flee the presence of the Lord. Often we are like Jonah. God calls us to do something, and we refuse and wonder why we have storms in our lives. Verse 3 details how deliberate Jonah’s steps were to avoid the Lord. He was decisive in disobedience as we often are. He rose up. He went. He found. He paid. He went down into it. All action steps by choice to avoid God’s call. Our disobedience may give us peace. For example, in the storm, Jonah was sound asleep while causing turmoil in other people’s lives. At least Jonah recognized his part. God stops the storm and saves Jonah. We shouldn’t run from God’s call regardless of how difficult the assignment appears to be. Those are my journal entries from Jonah chapter 1, so now let’s take a look at this chapter. In verse 1, it’s clear that the word of the Lord came to Jonah. God is giving him his specific instructions. He tells Jonah very clearly, “‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it.'” Verse 2, “‘But,’ one of those buts in Scripture, “‘But Jonah rose to flee.'” So Jonah willfully disobeys God’s instruction. I mentioned in my journal, his action steps are defiant. He not only rises up, he went down to Joppa, he paid the fare, he went on board, and he deliberately went away from the presence of the Lord. Have you ever done that in your life? Have you thought you heard from the Lord, you heard something you didn’t want to do, and you went the other way? Have you been as deliberate as Jonah and taken specific action steps to flee from the Lord? Verse 4, though, has another one of those buts in Scripture. But the Lord. So God directly intervenes in the circumstance. He creates a storm on the sea where the ship that Jonah is on is headed away from God. Yet, even during the storm, Jonah is sound asleep. I said that in one of my journals, didn’t I? Oftentimes, while we’re running from the Lord, we may be peaceful, while we’re causing turmoil in everybody’s lives around us. Yes, the storm was raging, but Jonah had a false sense of security. The sailors, the captain of the ship, they all figure out that Jonah is the problem. That’s probably divine revelation, isn’t it? They used the method of casting lots. We don’t do that anymore. But we still can figure out who may be the problem. Interestingly, in verse 9, when they try to figure out who he is, he says, I’m a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven. Really? If he feared the Lord, would he be running from him? In conversations with those on the ship, he admitted that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord. Verse 10, Jonah knows he’s the problem. So he says, pick me up and hurl me into the sea. And in an amazing confession of faith, he says, and the sea will quiet down for you. How would he know such a thing? He says in verse 12, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. They didn’t want to do it, so they rowed harder, but the storm got worse. Finally, they throw Jonah overboard. And when they did, the sea ceased from its raging. Wow! What kind of testimony was that to those sailors? Do you think after that they feared the Lord, the God of heaven? Take a look at verse 16. Yes, even when we’re running from the Lord, our lives can be a testimony for Him and people can come to saving faith in Jesus. Chapter 1 ends with a great fish swallowing up Jonah. We’ll pick up the story in chapter 2. So what can we learn from Jonah chapter 1? Well, I think the first lesson is pretty clear, isn’t it? When we hear from the Lord, don’t flee from his presence. Secondly, if we do, we may think we’re at peace while we’re causing turmoil in other people’s lives. We may be the solution to their problem. We may need to admit our guilt, our disobedience, and seek to be part of the solution. And lastly, even though we may be in the wrong, God is always in the right. Even in the mess we sometimes create, God can be glorified. Father, we thank you for the lessons we learn here in Jonah chapter 1. We look forward to what happens next. But we ask for your forgiveness when we flee from you, when we cause problems for others. But we’re thankful that you are a God who can straighten out the mess we create. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You have probably noticed I refer to my personal Bible reading journals in AdBible. I took an honors English class in high school and learned about journaling. I kept a journal in high school probably related to that class, and then I quit. For some reason, I started journaling my Bible reading about 10 years later. I don’t know why I decided to journal my Bible reading, but my first journal is dated at 1983. Back then, I bought spiral-bound notebooks from a retail store. Nothing fancy. But when I started the Ezra Project, I decided to publish Bible reading journals. You can find two of them on our website at ezraproject.net. Why journal? It will change the way you read the Bible. If you struggle with your daily quiet time, try it. If you know you’re going to write something down after you read, you will pay more attention to what you’re reading. It can be as simple as your favorite verse in the passage or the major point you got out of the passage. You decide. It’s your journal. And it’s not a personal journal. It’s a Bible reading journal. So you shouldn’t have to worry about someone finding it and reading it. I wanted to print a bumper sticker once called Real Men Journal. I figured it would look good on the back of the pickup trucks. Well, you know, I never printed it because I knew it wouldn’t sell. But get an Ezra Project Bible reading journal at EzraProject.net. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
