Devotion - Tuesday, November 2

I want to spend one more day on the book of Jonah.  As we discussed this book last night, we were struck by the folks in the book who hear and respond to God.  Jonah is not one of those who does.

Jonah runs away from God.  Jonah reluctantly does what God asks of him.  And when Nineveh repents of its evil, Jonah is frustrated that they do.  

We are too quick to label those who are inside the circle and those who are not.  We are too fast in assuming with whom God is pleased and who is following the way of God.  We distrust the stranger and the foreigner.  We, like Jonah, insist on our own preferences rather than responding to God and living into our relationship with God.

Nineveh has a foreign city.  Nineveh was a place that was looked down upon and avoided.  And yet Jonah is to go to Nineveh and when he does the people of the town hear God's word and respond.

We can learn much from this short book.  We ought to learn much from it.