Well here we go into another book in the Minor Prophets and this month we are looking at Jonah.

I am sure all of us know the story of Jonah, certainly in my days at school they taught us the story of Jonah and his faith in God after God had taught him a valuable lesson.

The word God is mentioned in this book a total of 16 times in the New King James Version, although not all 16 refer to God but the god that they worshipped. Throughout the book of Jonah, we see that God had a plan for Jonah, knowing exactly what Jonah would do right down to a tee. How apt! It’s the same with each and every one of us.

We see right from verse 1, that Jonah is in a situation where he is on a ship and the storm is up. Today our world can be stormy, especially as Christians. Jonah was awoken and prayed to God, knowing that it was Him causing the storm. Even when Jonah had done wrong, God listened to him, as God does with us. Where I used to work, if I worked everyday in a year without a day off sick, I got an “always there” day. God is always there – day or night.

Moving on, we see in chapter 2 verse 1, Jonah is in a solitary place and he knows he's done wrong but is praying to God from inside the belly. God heard. God still has plans for Jonah, even though he disobeyed God.

Jonah at times had his own mind to do what he wanted to, and sometimes we can be exactly like him, do what we want and not what God plainly wants us to. Moving to chapter 4 verse 2, Jonah has come to the realisation that God’s plan is final, and His will should be followed. It reads “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.” The penny has finally dropped and Jonah comes clean. We can see that God, has worked with Jonah, since the minute he decided to disobey, and now Jonah’s at the point where he is doing what God had planned. From Jonah, we can see that God is a God of Salvation, and a God that will bring us back to His will should we need His guidance. In the month ahead, remember exactly that – God is faithful to us, when we do wrong, when we stray, when we disobey Him.

Please send any questions or comments you have on this article to s.latham@assemblyyouth.net

	Next month: Micah.	Index
	The role of God in the Bible
	Last month: Obadiah.

All quotes are from the New King James version of the Bible unless otherwise specified.