I KNEW IT

Jonah is a story of a God who loves his creation.

God sends his servant Jonah to go warn the people of Ninevah (the enemies of the Jews) of their coming doom. Jonah refuses. 

He goes the opposite way. 

But God won’t let Jonah get away easily and through a series of events brings him back, and sends him again to Ninevah.

So Jonah goes and preaches to the Ninevites to repent — and they do.

And God relents from his disaster.

His Steadfast Love for All Creation

God shows steadfast love for his creation. It’s obvious here in this story.

A creation that continuously walks away from Him, that want nothing to do with him, he continues to call back. 

Though they may be the enemies of his chosen people, he calls them. He loves them.

God shows his steadfast love, his hesed. An unchanging, deep, compassionate love for his creation.

A love that cannot be fathomed, above and beyond anything we have or ever will experience on this planet. 

And when the people turn back to Him. He forgives and relents. He desires the restoration of His people with himself. 

Jonah Knew it

But the part of this story I want to highlight it not just that God loves his people, it’s that Jonah knew it.

Jonah knew so deeply Gods character, his love, he was so convinced that God was full of hesed that he refused to go preach to his enemies.

I picture Jonah there with an angry face yelling at God “I KNEW IT, I knew that you would relent from disaster.” 

And he was right. God relented.

God has steadfast love (hesed) for the hundreds of thousands of people he had created who had gone woefully astray in the city of Ninevah.

And he has steadfast love for you.

My prayer today then joins in with Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians, that you “may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19a)

Until next time,

Be Blessed,

Aaron

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