Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy. Jonah 2:8
My friend Lori Hatcher has written an uncommon devotional. God has shown her unusual verses from every book of the Bible and given her an application to our lives for each of those verses. I have found each devotion a timely word for this day and hour in which we are living. Mrs. Hatcher has allowed me to share a little of her journey in writing her book and to share one of the devotions. I chose to share from the book of Jonah because most of us are so familiar with his story that we wouldn't think we had missed a thing. We know Jonah well or do we? Please enjoy Mrs. Hatcher's thoughts on Jonah. Her book Refresh Your Faith, Uncommon Devotions from Every Book of the Bible is available now on Amazon.
Mrs. Hatcher's reason for writing Refresh Your Faith is likely the same reason we feel a little deaf to the hearing of God's Word. I'll let her explain the reasons in her own words.
The Secret Christian Women Don’t Like to Share
By Lori Hatcher
The sad little secret in Christian circles is that many of us are bored with our devotional time. We know we shouldn’t feel this way. It’s important to read our Bibles every day. After all, it’s God’s Word, the source of truth, and life, and hope.
I hope my book will energize your faith, inspire your devotional time, and make you say, “Wow, I’ve never seen that before!”
Uncommon Mercy
Jonah
Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy. Jonah 2:8
Does anyone not know the story of Jonah? Rebellious prophet catches the first ship headed south after God calls him north
to preach to the wicked Ninevites. A storm arises, threatening the ship and all those on board. Jonah confesses his sin, offers
his life in exchange for the crew’s, and urges the sailors to toss him overboard.
But instead of drowning, Jonah gets swallowed by a great fish, who just happens to be swimming toward Ninevah. Jonah
repents of his rebellious ways, the fish burps him out, and he heads toward the city center, preaching repentance as he goes.
The city responds, and they all live happily ever after. The End.
If you ask someone who gets saved in the book of Jonah, they’ll respond, “Why, the Ninevites, of course.” Every kid in
children’s church knows this. Jonah shines as an example of God’s mercy toward the disobedient unbelieving Ninevites.
But buried in the first chapter, we find something unexpected—glistening examples of God’s mercy toward Jonah—toward a
disobedient believing Hebrew.
The first glimmer of God’s mercy toward Jonah comes in the form of a great storm. “The LORD sent out a great wind on the
sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up” (verse 4).
Jonah recognized it for what it was—a divine response to his sin. “I know that this great tempest is because of me," he told his
shipmates (verse 12). But he was wrong about God’s intent. Jonah assumed the storm was his punishment for disobeying
God’s call to go to Ninevah. And he was willing to accept his sentence. But while he was bad, he wasn’t a murderer.
Unwilling to allow the entire crew and ship to be lost because of his sin, he instructed the sailors, “Pick me up and throw me
into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you.”
They did. And it did.
But God didn’t send the powerful storm to destroy Jonah. He sent it to save him. How do we know this? Because Jonah didn’t
drown. God sent the storm to save Jonah from himself.
As he sank into the depths of the sea, he cried out to God, and God extended His mercy a second time. Instead of wind and
waves, however, God sent a whale. “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah” (verse 17).
In Jonah’s mind, his situation went from bad to worse, but we know better. Instead of becoming fish bait, Jonah became a
passenger in the world’s first submarine. God used the great fish to shelter and transport him back to a place of repentance
and restoration.
But Jonah’s repentance wasn’t instantaneous. While he should have been praising God for his unlikely rescue, he sat with his
arms crossed in the pitch black belly of the whale for three days and three nights. Floating in gastric juices and breathing the
stench of rotting fish carcasses, he resisted God’s mercy and clung to his worthless idols of prejudice, superiority, and rebellion.
Until a light dawned. And it didn’t come from the fish’s blow hole.
“When my life was ebbing away,” Jonah prayed, “I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple”
(verse 7).
“And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land” (verse 10).
As Christians, we all have our Jonah moments. We sense God’s call and run the other way. Fear, prejudice, a lack of faith, or a
school of other excuses hinder us from obeying what we know He wants us to do.
Because He’s committed to helping us grow and bear spiritual fruit, he orders the circumstances of our lives to give us every
opportunity to turn back to Himself. What looks like punishment might instead be the velvet glove of mercy.
When we return to Him, he’ll again work through us to bless other people. We may not see an entire city come to faith in God
like Jonah did, but we can be confident He’ll use us to accomplish His good and perfect will in the lives of those around us.
Uncommon Thought
What looks like judgment may instead be God’s mercy.
Unusual Faith
As you look back on the difficult seasons of your life, have you ever considered the possibility that God may have allowed
those times to draw you closer to Himself or redirect your steps? Could what looked like punishment instead been a
manifestation of His mercy?
What about your life now? Are you walking in obedience to God, or are you running in the opposite direction? Have you been
reluctant to obey something He’s called you to do? Demonstrate your faith by saying yes.
Read the entire book of Jonah. (It’s only four chapters.)
