Daily Devotional

READ: Jon. 3:5–9: … Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? Jonah’s message from God appears severe: you shall be overthrown. Yet it is also longsuffering: there is still time for repentance. Forty days remain. The response of the inhabitants […]

READ: Jon. 3:3,4: … Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! Then Jonah goes. Now he is obedient. Upon arriving at Nineveh, he would ordinarily require three days to reach the principal parts of this great city, such was its size. Yet he does not even get that far. Within a single day the

READ: Jon. 3:1,2: Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.’ The LORD continues His dealings with Jonah. He has drawn His resisting child back to Himself and shown him mercy. The LORD

READ: Jon. 2:9–10: … But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; … Commentators differ concerning verse 9 and the nature of Jonah’s deliverance. Did Jonah hear while still in the fish that the LORD would preserve his life and restore him to the land? This is certainly possible, for the LORD

READ: Jon. 2:1–8: … I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction … In the “grave” of the fish Jonah experiences what it means to be without God. He has been tormented by the question: How could I depart from the LORD, grieve Him, and call down His wrath upon myself? But also:

READ: Jon. 1:17: … three days and three nights … Jonah is swallowed by an extraordinarily great fish, appointed by God for that purpose. In this way the LORD prevented Jonah from perishing in the raging sea. By God’s grace he was rescued from death out of the depths of the sea. Yet this does

READ: Jon. 1:13–16: … Then they cried out to the LORD … and cast him into the sea … Despite Jonah’s proposal to be thrown overboard, the entire crew first tries to save both themselves and Jonah by rowing with all their strength. This too is a reproach to Jonah. He is unwilling to address

READ: Jon. 1:8–12: .… How have you done this? … Jonah is exposed when the lot identifies him as the sinner. Though the lot was cast superstitiously, Jonah must have recognized the LORD’s hand in it. Under a barrage of questions he must confess who he is and who his God is. He declares that

READ: Jon. 1:5–7: … Arise, call on your God … Jonah thinks he can escape a commission with which he disagrees. But the LORD determines otherwise. He employs the means that stand at His disposal. From this we learn that God’s hand is present in the various developments in nature that come upon us and

READ: Jon. 1:4: … the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea … Jonah’s response is thoroughly earthly: he does not wish to prophesy. But if God wills it, it shall nevertheless come to pass. The prophet Jeremiah also acknowledged this when he experienced the burden of his calling (Jer. 20:7–9). If God