When we think about the book of Jonah we usually think of the disobedient man of God who was gobbled up by a big fish. However, after closely reading and pondering upon this book, I found that we are not all that different from Jonah and there are quite a few things we can learn from his story.

The story as I would tell it goes like this. God sent Jonah to make the city of Nineveh repent from its evil ways but he ran away from this task. He tried to flee by ship to Tarshish but a violent storm occurred because of him, so he had to be thrown overboard. God sent a big fish to swallow him and there he was in its belly for 3 days and 3 nights waiting to be digested and turned into completely worthless fish feces. However, Jonah repented and God gave him a second chance to do his task.

Thus the people of Nineveh repented and God did not destroy them, but Jonah did not rejoice in this. He was angry. Jonah was arrogantly angry because he said he already knew God would have mercy on Nineveh and he was upset that God would not let him just run away to Tarshish. At this point, Jonah was very upset and lost his purpose to live. But God would not let him die so he sat beside the city to see what would become of it –perhaps to see if they would sin again.

Bringing it back to us: when God gives us tasks to do, big or small, do we run away or avoid them because we think we know better? If we run away, we become useless–waiting to be turned into fish feces. If we think we know better than God, our purpose in life and reason to live also diminishes. And how often do we just sit around idle and watch to see if others will stand firm in faith or even question God’s mercy on them? This is clearly dangerous ground as we see that Jonah faced vehement winds and nearly fainted in the hot sun when God took away the tree that sustained him.

The tree that God made for Jonah and took away in one night teaches us an important lesson: God shall have mercy on whomever He wishes, for our limited knowledge and understanding can neither comprehend nor surpass His higher purpose and will. While we may not understand God’s will in our lives, we need to trust Him, not run away. Moreover, we must remember to live to please God, not man (1Thess 4:1). Our life experiences will teach us that man is able to disappoint, provoke, and crush our spirits but it is the Lord who is able to lift us up above the storm like eagles (Is 40:31).

Jonah’s story brought great comfort to me because I recently felt like I had lost purpose in life and just wanted to ‘run away’. However, I was reminded that indeed the Lord gives us strength as a measure of our days (Deut 33:25). Even Jonah was able to pick himself up again when realized his end purpose, that is when he repented to God saying, “I will look again toward Your holy temple…Salvation is of the Lord” (Jon 2:4, 9b).