The God Who Gives Second Chances

"Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying..."  Jonah 3:1

There is a rich message in these words. They convey a message of hope and renewal.  You may remember that Jonah was called by Yahweh to take a word of redemptive grace to Nineveh.  When the word of the LORD came to Jonah the first time he decided to reject God's word and flee.  The time was 760 B.C., and Jonah was commissioned by Yahweh to go and preach against the great city of Nineveh.

Jonah refused to obey the word of the LORD.  In chapter one we are told that Jonah ran away, but the Hebrew text has a different nuance.  In the Hebrew text we are are not told that Jonah ran away, but that he 'reared up' at the word of Yahweh. Now we have a different story, do we not?  Through this understanding we are afforded critical insight into why Jonah did not obey God.

Nineveh was the capital of the dreaded Assyrian empire.  The Assyrian army or hoard had destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. and deported many of the inhabitants to other lands.  The military practices of the Assyrian army are too heinous to recount for this article. Suffice it to say that they were extremely brutal and dehumanizing.  Jonah knew their history and what had been done to his people, and now Yahweh wanted him to take a word of grace and redemption to the enemy of his people.

This is why the prophet reared up and found himself in active rebellion against the revealed will of Yahweh. Furthermore, the Hebrew text uses the word pasha to denote Jonah's mental state.  Pasha signifies to revolt or refuse to submit to rightful authority.  It is wonderful that this account is historical, and that we believers today are never given to pasha in our lives.  (please note the sarcasm)

Jonah's mental attitude is demonstrated by the action of boarding a ship and attempting to flee from the presence of God.  It's amazing that when God reveals his love for our enemies how we react.  Cognitively, to say for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and that whosoever believes's into him will have eternal life (zoe), is agreeable, but in actuality it may be offensive.   How can God love those we do not love?

A long time ago I read a story entitled, "The Hound of Heaven."  It was about the God who does not give up on us.  Whomsoever he goes after he retrieves.  The rebellious prophet is also the object of God's love.  Jonah was never going to win this battle of the wills. Jonah rose up, fled and God pursued.

To believe that one can flee  from the presence of the LORD is highly instructive.  Jonah knew that Yahweh was not one of the Baals or localized gods of the indigenous people.  He knew that Yahweh was the creator of  all things, and yet with his will in active rebellion he tried to find 'comfort' for his decision in a theology of convenience.

Jonah faced a fantastic battle within himself.  He was in conflict with God, and his attitude now tied to real guilt.  He is now in unreality.  He cannot run from God, and he cannot run from himself, but he is on the run.  He has a conflicted soul.  There is a balm for the psychic rupture within, but it will only be had through intentional repentance.  He will have to own his decision, and the consequences thereof.

So many people attempt to continue to 'run' from their decisions thereby earning PhD's (piling higher deeper) in their original rebellion.  We have a God who gives second chances.  He does not delight in our ruin, but desires to show mercy to us. Our jobs, such as it is, is to go to him and receive his rich grace and mercy.

Will you stop running from God and accept his grace?  You know that all of those substitutes that you have tried do not satisfy.  In spite of all that he had done to evade the will of God, God gave Jonah a second chance.  Oh, taste the Lord and see that he is good.

God gave Jonah a second chance, and so does he to us.  Blessing to you.

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