God’s Abundant Grace

“Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before Me.’ Yet Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh…

And [Jonah] prayed to Yahweh and said, ‘...I went ahead to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning evil.’”

-Jonah 1:1-3; 4:2

The lesson that I had always taken away from the story of Jonah was to not be disobedient to God. However, after re-reading the short story again, the primary theme in focus is the grace and abundant compassion of God.

I included the beginning and end of the story as the theme verses, but I recommend reading the entire story if you are not familiar with it. It is one of the shortest books in the Bible with only 4 chapters. 

Jonah, a Hebrew, ran from God’s command to preach to the city of Nineveh not because he was lazy or afraid but because the Ninevites were the Hebrews’ enemies. They belonged to the Assyrian Empire and were merciless toward those they conquered. Because of this, Jonah did not want them to repent; he wanted them to face God’s judgment. 

The first often-overlooked takeaway is that Jonah was absolutely sure and confident of God’s character. Chapter 4 verse 2 says, he knew that God is “gracious,” “compassionate,” “slow to anger,” “abundant is lovingkindness,” and “one who relents concerning evil.” It made me stop to think about how wrongly God is often viewed. Majority of people, even surprisingly among Christians, likely have the perspective that God is irritable, quick to anger, enjoys smiting sinners, and can’t wait for people to mess up so He can punish them. The character of God, however, is the opposite of those traits. He desires that none should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) and it was because of His deep love for humanity that He sent Jesus to die on the cross to bear the punishment for our sins (John 3:16). 

God’s grace and mercy gives people abundant chances to choose Him. There is no one on this earth who has “slipped through the cracks” or missed the offer for salvation. If God created humanity to love Him and be loved by Him, why wouldn’t He be full of grace? God didn’t have to send anybody to the Ninevites, but He chose to pursue them through Jonah as a messenger. And even when Jonah ran, God wouldn’t let him get away from this rescue-mission. 

Lately, God has been teaching me in different ways just how powerful and abundant His grace is. I started reading a book called Imagine Heaven by John Burke which documents the NDEs (near death experiences) of individuals. These are those who clinically die and come back to life. I think we have this impression that the moment we die, we either pop-up in heaven or pop-up in hell. But what’s interesting about these testimonies (especially among those who were not Christians before their NDE) is that there seems to be a short “window” of opportunity for them to call out to Jesus one last time before their eternal fate is settled. For example, one man was being drawn by evil entities into a sulphur-smelling, gas-emitting pit, but He cried out, “Jesus save me!” and angels immediately appeared to remove him. Jesus is willing to save sinners until the very last moment. Whether you are skeptical about this or not, you can’t deny that this window of grace lines up with the character of God. 

Likewise, many people view the period of the Tribulation for what it is– God’s wrath and judgment being poured out. However, it is also another window of grace! People will have witnessed the miracle of the rapture, likely changing the minds of many. God will also send the two invincible witnesses and the anointed 144,000 Jewish men to declare Jesus. Many will come to salvation during this period because there will be no middle ground anymore. People must choose to serve Christ or serve the antichrist. Even among God’s wrath, there is still His grace to be found.

The second takeaway is that our compassion falls far short of God’s. It seems that Jonah was chosen to be the messenger in order to unveil his selfish heart posture. While God had every right to be angry and pour His wrath down on the evil Ninevites, His compassion for them exceeded His vindication. When a sinner turns to Christ, there is great rejoicing in heaven (Luke 15:10). From Jonah’s perspective, though, he became angry when he saw their repentance. This idea made me think about our lives as Christians and how when we see evil, we tend to desire justice without mercy. It offends Christians when someone says that it’s possible for serial killers like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer to be in heaven if they chose to believe in Jesus toward the end of their lives. We often hyper-focus and point-out the sins of the world and sadly, dehumanize the sinner. Our anger for sin outshines the grace that God wants us to give.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with our desires and prayers for justice, but it’s important to evaluate our heart posture. Without Christ, we are all wicked; we all deserve punishment. Romans 3:10 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” God has shown great compassion to us by saving us, not of our works but solely through the sacrifice of Christ, and He continues to show great compassion in our lives. Who are we to not desire the godless to be saved as well? And who are we to forget that we were once lost too? James 2:13 reminds us that mercy triumphs over judgment. While we can pray for justice, let’s also remember to pray abundantly for the salvation of our enemies. 

The final takeaway is that Jonah was a foil of Christ. In literature, a foil is a character who is meant to draw attention to the attributes of another. Therefore, they often embody the opposite traits. Jonah was an unwilling servant. In His own self-righteousness, he did not want to see his enemies saved. In contrast, Jesus willingly “for the joy set before Him endured the shame of the cross” to die for His enemies (Hebrews 12:2). While Jonah had nothing to lose by preaching to the Ninevites, Jesus endured the painstaking separation from God and the physical pain of being crucified. Jonah was a sinful human, yet he boasted in self-righteousness; but, Jesus was sinless and died in humility. Jonah disobeyed God, but Jesus obeyed Him perfectly in every way.

Take a Moment:

I’ve listed a 5-day “challenge” for you this week to apply the message from this devotional. 

Day 1: Read — Read the entire story of Jonah today and ask God to teach you what He wants you to learn from it.

Day 2: Reflect — Ask yourself these questions: Do I view the character of God correctly? Do I have assurance of His abundant mercy and compassion like Jonah did? Where have I lacked grace and compassion for others? How can I be more like Christ and less like Jonah?

Day 3: Pray — Spend time praying for your enemies today. Pray for their salvation, or if they are saved, pray for their heart transformation (as well as yours).

Day 4: Worship — Listen to and worship God with the song “Broken Vessels. “ Click here to take you to YouTube.

Day 5: Act — Memorize and apply the principle of these verses:

“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” -Colossians 3:12-13

Having confidence in the abundant grace of God and displaying it to others is what it means to live by faith.

-Alina