TODAY IN THE WORD
If you use social networking sites such as Facebook, which now boasts more than 400 million active users, you’re probably familiar with receiving a request to be someone’s “friend.” At that point, you have a choice: you can click “confirm” or “ignore.” You might later decide to “unfriend” someone, meaning to remove him or her from the list of people who have access to your personal information. Due to the popularity of such Web sites, the New Oxford American Dictionary named “unfriend” its 2009 Word of the Year.

In modern terms, Jonah was trying to “unfriend” God. God, however, is present everywhere, so there was no escape for the prophet (cf. Ps. 139:7-10). There was also no release from his calling and ministry assignment, no matter how unwelcome. Jonah tried his utmost to block God’s purposes for Nineveh, but his resistance, no matter how extreme, could never thwart the divine will. When the lot settled on Jonah, he persisted in his rebellion by not repenting or calling upon the Lord but instead asking the sailors to throw him overboard.

Perhaps he had despaired to the point of suicide, knowing how God hates sin. But more likely he clung to an irrational hope that if he were to die, no one could take God’s message to Nineveh. In that case, he would “die for his country” and his disobedience could still accomplish something.

The pagan sailors, to their credit, made a contrasting choice. They refused to commit murder and did everything they could to avoid throwing Jonah into the sea. When at last they felt compelled to do so, they cried out for forgiveness. After God miraculously stilled the storm and the “great fish” swallowed Jonah (an event they probably witnessed), they responded in worship, proving the sincerity of their hearts. We don’t know whether this was momentary awe or a lasting conversion, but it would be reasonable to assume it was a life-changing event for at least some of the sailors. Even in the midst of Jonah’s disobedience, God found a way to reveal Himself to unbelievers and bring glory to His name!

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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Jesus used Jonah to answer the Pharisees’ demand for a sign: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:38-42). They wanted supernatural verification that Jesus really did come from God—but they really wanted to discredit Jesus. Christ answered their question by prophesying His Resurrection, turning Jonah’s disobedience on its head for His glory!

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