The Prophet Vs. Jonah: The Story Of Jonah

What leads to lack of knowledge is the question one should probably ask in this situation; and with that question, another prophet comes to mind. A minor prophet who had a similar dilemma as America has today which many believe to have been the cause of this lack of knowledge spoken about; his name is Jonah. Yes, everyone should be able to recall to mind the story of the prophet Jonah being caught in the belly of a great fish. Conversely, even though America appears at the moment to be in a “whale” of a situation, the parallel between the prophet and the fish isn’t what America should be liken to regarding lack of knowledge. The question one should ask themselves is, why was Jonah in the fish in the first place? Once you answer that question, you will also find the reasoning for this country’s lack….it’s rebellion.
God gave Jonah a clear command to go and preach against the city of Nineveh, as we know however, the prophet didn’t do as instructed. The

prophet rebelled, or rather resisted, against God’s command. Full of pride, stubborn, defiant, two-timing, a whiner, irascible, cantankerous old curmudgeon…these are words that can be used to describe the prophet; but we could also take those same adjectives and they would accurately describe the country we live in today. Jonah’s attitude and behavior is carefully documented in this book because God wanted to speak even to this generation about the insolences we take when God gives us an assignment. It is not to be overlooked and one should study the prophet’s behavior very judiciously. The Lord has placed this nation in a very high stance among all the nations in the world. This nation, nevertheless, has a tendency to rebel against what God commands; the rebellion starts with us as a people of this generation. We know sexual immorality is wrong, yet we watch pornography and sleep around with others. We know that we are to be of a sober mind, yet we have so called holidays such as New Year’s Eve, St. Patrick’s Day, and Mardi Gras, where it would appear that the object of the holiday is to get as drunk as possible. We are supposed to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, yet and still America is one of the most racist countries even to this day. So of course we have rebelled against what God has commanded for us. The strange thing about resistance of God is that when God grows weary of your resistance…it becomes futile.
Of these two devastating tales of the two prophets that have been discussed with eerie similarities of the present day America, all is not bad and there is good news.

As stated in the story of Hosea, the people of Israel…like present day America, were off bad due to their spiritual adultery and they lacked knowledge of God, conversely, that’s not where the story ends. The ultimate goal of the story is to tell of God’s love for us, even when our sins have broken his heart . Now that the prophets have been reflected on, one can certainly appreciate Hosea for the work he put together with guidance of the Holy Spirit. While America certainly looks like Israel of that time with its inhabitants and their fascination or rather worship of money, fame, social media, and celebrities; America can also share in the good news that even though we have turned to other things and turned our “sides, not backs completely” to God…He still wants us! That’s amazing and a reason to praise Him alone if for nothing

else.
How do we fix resistance though? It’s one thing to resist temptation but when you resist the commands of God you put yourself in a very dangerous situation. Why does an individual resist the commands of God however; one can only assume why Jonah was so immediately and directly disobedient, but Peter Craigie suggest that, “At best, perhaps all that can be said is that Jonah did not share in the least God’s concern and compassion for Nineveh ”. This appears to be the same problem that this nation has with rebellion and resistance, when it comes to God…Americans just don’t share the same passion for the things God does. Church membership numbers are still declining, murder rapes are way too high even still in this day, families are being broken up daily, and divorce is at an all-time rate; no, people in this country don’t value the same things of the Lord like Jonah. Jonah however learned his lesson, after the fish swallowed him for three days and after he prayed fervently in the belly of the beast…God caused the whale to spit Jonah up. Jonah was not the only one given another chance because after God called Jonah again to preach against the people of Nineveh…this time he did it without hesitation.
As this country gets older and wiser, it should take a lesson from the prophet Jonah. Yes, you can rebel against God all you want and think you’re going to get somewhere in life; but the truth is that there isn’t anywhere you can go that He won’t find you and punish you for your deeds. America needs to understand that our sins will catch up with us if we’re not receptive to the redemption call of Jesus Christ and turn back to His ways and principles. There is one other point of the story of Jonah that the author would like to bring to notice about the attitude that individuals take with God in their circumstances that still occurs in this day. After God commands Jonah a second time, and Jonah obeys, the Bible says when Jonah preached Nineveh’s destruction that, “The people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them ”. When the people heard from the Lord, they repented and God had mercy on them. Jonah in this instance becomes furious, as a matter of fact, he becomes so made that God poses a question for him in chapter 4 verse 4. It is there God ask Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry ”. Jonah was mad at God’s decision to save Nineveh, and one could think of countless ways that the United States shares this same attitude as Jonah.
In Christian churches across America, we have a couple of “Jonahs” in the building; folks who are displeased that a person is repenting. You could see this any Sunday in church if you observe closely enough. You have the member who watches a visitor enter their place of worship who: (1) doesn’t have the right clothes, (2) hygiene isn’t quite up to par, (3) appears to be an obvious addict, (4) has a galleria of tattoos; now all the while during the service said person is moved by the words of the preacher and accepts Jesus which causes some of the members to get “uncomfortable” like Jonah. They don’t feel that individual is necessarily their type of candidate for a member at that church. Jonah was livid because his doctrine was in palpable conflict with the nature, consideration, and act of God; he didn’t believe anyone else but Israel should share in God’s graciousness and mercy. “And in the Church, no less than in ancient Israel, there is a perpetual tendency to try and confine God’s love ”. Only those within the Church are the entities of “celestial consideration” has been the dispute for eons now but as Peter C. Craigie points out in Twelve Prophets, that squabble is fundamentally flawed.
So after studying the Minor Prophet of the Old Testament, one can see that the prophets were divinely prearranged presenters who received and correlated God’s communications whether in spoken or written form. These men were not linguists; they spoke the authentic words that God had given to them deprived of any analysis or alteration on their part. Although only 2 prophets were mentioned here, all 12 prophets have messages from God that speak to a generation today. It is our duty to study the Word of God accordingly so that we may further examine the messages that God sent through them that are obviously still relevant to this day. Our duty is to “Hear the Word of The Lord”!