When we run and hide from God, when we conceal our secret sins, God comes looking for us. Because God never gives up on those He loves. In this passage, Jonah tried to run from God. So, God sent a ferocious storm and a giant fish to bring Jonah back; because God loved Jonah. This sermon explores three things about the relentless pursuit of “The Lord of the Storm.”
- The Chance of Discovery: God brings Jonah’s rebellion into the light through the storm He sent. If God loved Jonah less, He’d let him go. But in His mercy and grace, God brings Jonah’s rebellion into the light. Takeaway: Confession is grace. God is bringing our rebellion into the light because He loves us too much to let us self-destruct. Confession is our first step toward healing.
- The Sentence of Death: All Jonah must do is repent and cry out for mercy for God to respond. But Jonah doesn’t do that, and in his stubbornness continues to run from God. So, God makes Jonah own the deadliness of his sin. Takeaway: Conviction is grace. Have you ever been overwhelmed with conviction over the deadliness of your sin? That’s grace; because it is under the weight of conviction that we cry out for mercy, and it is the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance, which leads to life. Confession and conviction feel like death, but they are grace that leads to life.
- The Depths of Mercy: God’s mercy knows no depths, and there’s fathomless grace beneath the waves. So, God sends the fish and intends for Jonah to stay there until he has a change of heart. With this fish, God rescues Jonah from the watery grave. Instead of instant death, Jonah gets more time, a chance to repent, to cry out for mercy, and to discover that God is gracious and merciful. Takeaway: Continuation is grace. Another day, another chance to repent, to cry out for mercy, and to discover God’s unrelenting grace for undeserving people.
God is unrelenting in His grace for undeserving people. Even when we run and hide in our stubbornness and pride, God always comes looking for us. Because God never gives up on those He loves. His grace is relentless.
Jonah 1:7-17
Living the Message episode: https://youtu.be/zJi6G-8i7vc
