Jonah

1843 Words4 Pages

In today’s society people are constantly torn between the battle of listening to God or choosing to run away from following his rules by allowing themselves to be distracted by everyday life activities. In the story of Jonah, his mindset and actions throughout the story is a prime reflection of people within today’s society who are torn between God and their daily activities. Jonah’s personality and in the form that the story is told makes the story of Jonah intriguing. Jonah is extremely stubborn and unlike many of the prophets before him he is scared to take upon the responsibilities that come with becoming a prophet. The manner in which the story is told is intriguing because it is unlike any others that are found in the Bible. The story …show more content…

In relation to people in today’s society, people are faced with an array of problems in order to learn to appreciate God’s plans for them in the end. Although in the story of Jonah it is arguable if Jonah even appreciates God’s role for him in the end at all. However, God puts Jonah through all these hardships as he was trying to flee because God knew that’s what was going to make Jonah listen to him. After Jonah is swallowed by the Whale, Jonah finally prays to God and says, “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9)! In this moment Jonah knew that he had to face his fear of being a prophet and had to listen to God’s orders from him as a prophet. God then told Jonah that he must go out into Nineveh, calling it a great city, and Jonah went out to Nineveh and said, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small put on sackcloth” (Jonah 3:4-5). In this instance in the story, the reader would believe that Jonah is all of a sudden a “changed man” because he listened to God and told the people of Nineveh what God wanted them to hear. The people of Nineveh too listened to God’s words and they wore their sackcloth’s and fasted. Similarly, in today’s society there are those people who are like the people of Nineveh and obey God’s orders, and then there are those who are like Jonah who encounter a difficult experience before finally accepting God’s obligations he has for

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