The Season for a Bible Study has come around again with the falling leaves!

The Lord put on my heart to host Bible Studies at my house for teenagers over a year ago. Thankfully, when He does this He also equips the person He has chosen for such a task with time and lessons to teach so she can do such a thing!

Unfortunately, not with cooler temperatures, though, here in Michigan!

This year, I have been inspired to share Bible Stories! My desire is to dig deep into stories we have all heard 1000 times- if you were raised in the church!

The movie Shrek had some great nuggets of knowledge in it and one could definitely pertain to the different stories in the Bible:

I am definitely NOT surmising that the Bible is like an Ogre…but more like the onion…with lots of layers!

I believe these two things to my very core about the Bible:

1. and
2. 

This means that nothing written in the Bible is random or by whim- no matter how unbelievable the story may seem!!

My husband, the beautiful bald man that he is, has chosen the story of Jonah to kick off the season!

DISCLAIMER:I do realize that I have already blogged about Jonah (see post from July 22, 2017!), but here is where the ONION comes in…the more you read the Bible the more it comes alive and cuts into you, training you, equipping you…It is a thing of Holy Spirit wonder!

My plan was to bust this story up into pieces and see what God had to show us! And, let me tell you, He sure showed me some things!!!

With no further introduction….I bring you Jonah.

For any good story to make sense, we must set the stage appropriately.

Jonah was a citizen of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (or otherwise known as the Kingdom of Samaria). The nation of Israel had split into two kingdoms (Northern Kingdom of Israel and Judah) in approximately 900 BCE. He was a prophet of God that gave counsel to the King of Samaria:

The Book of Jonah was written about 785-760 BC which was AFTER the fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria (this occurred in 722 BCE).

This is an important fact to understand: check this out to clarify the timeline

Jonah was living a pretty decent life in conquered Samaria…although in captivity, the King of Samaria still held a position of ruling authority in their territory while still submitting to Assyrian rule. Jonah held a good position where he was known to the people and the king as a prophet of God- a man who God talked to, a man who prophesied on God’s behalf. He most likely was respected and comfortable in his calling.

And he hated the Assyrians.

The Assyrians had a reputation for absolute cruelty to those they conquered. They also had developed a taste for contempt and persecution toward those who worshipped God. They publically ridiculed and massacred those who believed in God- the Jews- for sport. They may have allowed the King of Samaria to remain on his throne but it was they who ruled. They flaunted their power in the faces of those they conquered.

Jonah saw this. He lived this reality. He may have been in a fairly good position in the people of Samaria’s eyes, but he was still a captive and his God was being ridiculed daily.

Jonah may have had friends and family killed, tortured, or imprisoned by the Assyrians. He saw the land promised to his people by God being desecrated by an enemy.

He hated the Assyrians.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. This was the evil of all evil cities. If it was made to be the capital of an evil empire then Nineveh was the epicenter of all evil.

What does God do?

WHY ON EARTH WOULD HE WANT JONAH TO GO THERE???

Their wickedness has caught up to them.

Crap.

How bad is bad when that bad comes up before God where He can no longer tolerate it?

We all know Jonah’s response

Remember who I said Jonah was?

He was not just “some guy” that was told to do something!

Jonah was a prophet of God…he did miracles in God’s name, he heard the voice of God, he sat in the presence of God. God did not speak to just anyone in those days. Instead He CHOSE certain people to speak for Him, to act on His behalf. Jonah was one of a very select few men who had this honor to SPEAK FOR THE LORD.

Jonah KNEW God.

Jonah also knew how God would USE HIM to reach the people of Nineveh. This was not a mission of destruction, this was a mission of mercy and JONAH KNEW that because HE KNEW the character of GOD…of Yahweh.

Why did Jonah run?

He had no desire nor compassion to give any such message to a city of people he hated.

He had no desire to give them any chance at a shot of redemption from his God-the Creator.

That’s how much his hate consumed him. His hate was bigger than his relationship with God and trusting in what God would have him do. His hate hardened his heart.

It is very important to remember

Jonah chose to not only run the opposite direction from Nineveh but also to run the opposite direction from the God he knew and served.

Choosing to stay with hate in the heart clouds the clarity of vision. It keeps you from seeing what is good all around you. It keeps you from sensing the presence of God.

Jonah did not run from the situation because it seemed too hard a task….he ran because he did not want to take a chance on the outcome God desired for these people.

Ouch.

Have you ever thought of a tough situation and thought you could do something in it- the right thing or a good thing- and didn’t do it…blaming it on the idea that you can’t, its too hard, you don’t have the time, or frankly you just don’t want to do it?

Here’s the crux with Jonah Part 1: Jonah did not want to do what God told him to do because he did not care enough for those people to do it.

Yes, he was a prophet of God but he did not agree with the heart of God. If he did, he would have gone to Nineveh.

We may say we are followers of God, believers of Jesus…but if we are not doing what He asks of us then is it possible to say that we too do not agree with the heart of God?

JESUS CAME TO US AND GAVE US THE

HE SAID

IT LOOKS LIKE THIS:

Do we do it? Or are we wanting to sit in our comfortable “kingdom”, talking to the king of our world, where people respect us, and those who are impacted by our life and our message are the ones WE CHOOSE to be worthy of it?

Do you run like Jonah?

OR WILL YOU CONSIDER THAT

 

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