A God of Second Chances

Today’s Passage – Jonah 1 – 4 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Revelation 1 – 3; Psalms 116 – 120; Proverbs 24)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 Timothy 1:17

Read the “0924 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.” (Jonah 3:1-3)

“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Romans 11:29 )

This morning’s passage is one of the most familiar portions of Scripture in the Bible: even many lost people could tell you something about this famous story. I will not take the time to revisit much of the familiar ground here, but I will sum up what happens up until chapter 3. Jonah is called by God to prophesy against Nineveh, which he refuses to do. Instead he heads east on a ship as far away from Nineveh as he can get. God causes a great tempest on the water, and Jonah ends up being thrown into the sea where he is swallowed up by a whale. While inside the belly of the great fish, Jonah repents, and after three days and nights, Jonah is vomited up on to dry ground.

Notice in chapter three that God comes to Jonah the second time, and commands him to do the exact same thing that he wanted him to do earlier. There are a couple of thoughts that I would like to consider this morning regarding these verses. First, why didn’t God ask somebody else to go. I am sure that God had other prophets, and probably even had one that would have been willing to go to the despised people of Nineveh. Why did God insist upon using Jonah? Why didn’t God give up on him and go to somebody else? Does God do the same thing with us today? In other words, is there something that God wants me to do that He will not allow somebody else to do, and if I rebel against his call, will it get done? Just a thought.

My second thought from this passage is that God did not give up on Jonah, even though Jonah rebelled against God. God patiently brought Jonah to where he needed to be, and used Jonah even though his heart wasn’t completely in the work. God gave Jonah a second opportunity to fulfill the will of God. What a great God we serve that puts up with our reluctance and our rebellion against him. God could have just let Jonah drown in the sea, but instead he brought him back to where he needed to be, and showed him what he needed to see.

God also gave John Mark in the New Testament a second chance. He was called by Paul and Barnabas to travel with them on the first missionary journey, but shortly after the trip began, he turned back. When the planning for the second journey was being discussed, Barnabas wanted to give John Mark another chance, which Paul refused to do. Barnabas ended up splitting with Paul and taking John Mark with him. Paul admitted later on that John Mark was profitable to him for the ministry. Sometimes people don’t want to give you a second chance, but God does. By the way, if God is willing to give second chances to people, shouldn’t we?