Jonah's 3 Calls

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"The word of the Lord came unto Jonah a second time." Jonah 3:1

I appreciate the short book of Jonah because it shows that 1) our Father does not give up on us, regardless of how we fail him, 2) he uses our mistakes and faults to teach us, and 3) He does not give up on others, but has great compassion for all living creatures, both "man and beast."

1st Call Jonah fled when he was called to warn the Ninevites of coming destruction unless they changed their ways. And we all know how he was swallowed by a great fish, and then vomited onto dry land after he "repented"--but note what he did next!

While in the fish, he sang a nice religious song about how great God was for delivering him, and Jonah promised to fulfill his vows--and then Jonah must have done nothing, because God had to call him a second time! Jonah probably thought his nice hymn of praise, his contriteness, his humility--his "religiousness"--was enough. But God wanted Jonah (and us) to practice not religion but obedience.

2nd Call Jonah obeyed the second call because he knew there was no escape--but he still had much to learn. He preached to the Ninevites, they repented, and God spared them--and Jonah was angry. When he was in the fish belly, Jonah was full of praise for God's mercy, but now he lays the blame on God for him running away in the first place!

In 4:1, 2, Jonah complained, "O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Or Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

3rd Call God's third call to Jonah was a call to look within and examine his heart. God gave him a vine to shade him from the sun, then prepared a worm to destroy the vine, and a scorching wind and a blazing sun upon Jonah's head. Jonah then bemoaned the death of the vine. In 4:9, God asked, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" Jonah replied, "I do. I am angry enough to die." Jonah was indeed angry--and truthful about it!

I appreciate that Jonah could be truthful about his feelings, as ridiculous and selfish as they were. God did not strike him down, or abandon him, but replied, calmly and patiently, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

And thus the book of Jonah ends, quite abruptly, with that question.

Like most people, I've run away like Jonah--and learned that running away from our Father eventually ends up running towards Him. When I was eight, I saw the poverty of my Mexican and Native American friends in Texas, and I decided to work in a poor country when I grew up. There was no flash of light from heaven, no great call--just recognition of a need, and the decision to help somehow. So I set my sights first on Australia, then Africa, and by high school was headed for either Guatemala or Nicaragua--and ended up in Asia!

That sense of "call" never left me, but when the time came for college, I was seized with doubts, and abruptly joined the Air Force instead--to "see the world." By day two of boot camp I was certain I'd made a big mistake, but I stuck it out, and the Air Force was a great learning experience, teaching me discipline and persistence. And had it not been for the Air Force sending me to Taiwan, I'd have never had any interest in China.

While in Taiwan I decided I wanted to live in China, so I applied for college to prepare--and then decided to stay in the Air Force (different field). While serving in Turkey, I left the Air Force to prepare for China--but went into business instead. I was running away, but with every decision I learned and matured, and was in a sense running toward China, not away from it--but it took a long time to get here because I was definitely not ready when I was younger (I'm not sure I'm ready for China even now, and I've been here over 20 years).

I'm still making mistakes even today, But I'm grateful that when we are in our Father's hand, no matter how far we run from Him, He ensures that we eventually end up running to Him, and that he does "make all things work together."

F.B. Meyer, in "Our Daily Homily" (London, 1894) wrote of Jonah 3:1

We must not presume on this, but we may take it to our hearts for their very great comfort. God's word may come to us "the second time." Jonah evaded it the first time, but he was permitted to have a second opportunity of obeying it. Thus it was with Peter; he failed to realize the Lord's ideal in the first great trial of his apostolic career, but the Lord met him on the shores of the lake, and his word came to him a second time.

God is not waiting to notice our first failure and thrust us from his service. He waits, with eager desire, to give us the joy and honour of being fellow-labourers with Himself. He waits to be gracious. Therefore, when in our madness we refuse to do his bidding, and rush off in another direction, He brings us back, amid bitter experiences, and says, "Go again to Ninevah with the message that I gave thee originally."

How many times He will do this I do not dare to say. He forgives indefinitely, unto seventy times seven, but how often He will re-entrust the sacred message and mission, it is not for me to say. But there is, without doubt, a limit beyond which He cannot go, lest our own character suffer, and the interests of other souls, who may be dissuaded from obedience by our example, should be imperiled.

How wonderful it is that God should employ us at all! Yet it is like his work in nature. He is ever calling men to co-operate with Himself. He lays the coal up in mines, but man must excavate; He puts the flowers in the wilds, but man cultivates them. He gives the water, but man irrigates the fields. So He longs over Nineveh, but summons sinful men to carry his word.



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