Jonah
New Series: Great Heroes of the Bible
The story of Steven Callahan (Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea) is a fascinating one.  He survived by creating a tool to show fixed positions.  Thus he was able to determine the direction to go to reach land. In the book of Jonah, we see two fixed positions:

(1) We all have the tendency to resist God’s commands and that is called sin.

(2) God has the tendency to chase us down and bring us back.

 Four things to consider in the book of Jonah:

God has a call on our lives. God instructed Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach repentance.  He didn’t want to obey because Nineveh was an enemy of Israel. What keeps us from obeying God’s call?
God pursues us. Jonah fled the opposite direction, a 2500 trip while Nineveh was only 500 miles away. Disobedience makes life more difficult than just simply obeying God. A great wind arose and meanwhile, Jonah slept.  We need to be alert, not asleep when great winds come into our life.  It may be God letting us know we are going in the wrong direction.
God rescues us. Jonah’s rescue was not pleasant, in the belly of a fish. It shows the cost of disobedience.

What do we learn from the story of Jonah?

1. Stop and face God.
2. Admit who you are: a child of God.
3. Confess what you’ve done.
4. Surrender to God