Recap 04-23-08

[This is pretty late. My apologies.]

Last Wednesday we talked about the story of Jonah and the Great Fish*. Here are some words we found that describe Jonah:

Prophet, Rebellious, Scared, Reluctant, Not Compassionate, Worshipper of God, Hebrew, Honest/Confused, Suicidal, Depressed, Refreshingly Normal, Angry, Hardheaded

Some commentary on a few of those:

Refreshingly Normal: He had to hit rock bottom before "remembering" God. How many of us need this type of experience to be reminded that we depend on Him?

Depressed: I thought it was interesting that someone noted that Jonah exhibited the signs of a depressed individual. He seemed suicidal and also probably slept a lot (see Jonah's reaction to the storm on the sea).

Angry: He seemed to harbor some deep resentment and hatred toward the people of Nineveh. We found out that these people were the Assyrians who did some pretty horrific things to the Israelites including throwing babies off of the temple and killing any other Jews they could find. So it's easy to understand where his anger comes from.

We also spoke about how God appears in the passage. Here are some words we found to describe Him:

Sovereign, Merciful

Sovereign: The verse that states, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy." came to mind. God can pretty much do whatever he wants even in spite of us or our motives.

Merciful: God is merciful even to those people who violently opposed Israel. Who are the people in our lives that we think do not deserve mercy?


Here are some lessons that we took away from the passage:

1. Don't be so concerned with yourself and your own plans that you miss God's miracles.
2. Think about the Ninevites next time you hear someone say, "Let's just nuke 'em. Let's just turn that place into a parking lot."
3. Do we think about the people we don't like (or even hate) and think that they are made in the image of God?
4. It's easy to call yourself a worshipper of God, but much harder to actually "follow" him.
5. What we want is not always what God wants.
6. Who are the Assyrians in our lives? Who are we bitter towards? Who would we like to see destroyed?
7. Sometimes we like to "sit on the hill and watch others be destroyed". Especially those who hurt us. What is God trying to teach you in the metaphor of the "gourd"?








It was noted that this may not have actually been a "whale" as commonly thought. That's not a commentary on anything. Just interesting.