Sustaining Love

May 7, 2017 Background Scripture: Jonah 1 Lesson Passage: Jonah 1:7 – 17 I am always curious as to what new thing the Lord will reveal to me as the Sunday School Lesson Series again include a study of the book of Jonah. No matter how much we think we know about a book or even a passage of scripture in the Bible, God always seem to remind me that His word is alive and yet unchanging. It is not so much the breadth of understanding that seems to change over time as much as the depth of it. This lesson continues this quarter’s theme of “God’s love” by inviting us to look at the first chapter of the book of Jonah through the lens of God’s love. First, God’s love for the Ninevites was shown when He sent a warning to them through His prophet. It is not God’s desire that any should perish but that all would come to the knowledge of salvation that is in Him alone. God sent a warning that they should turn from their behavior because He was offended by it and it would lead to their destruction if continued. Jonah did not harbor the same thoughts and feelings for the people of Nineveh as God and therefore Jonah ran away from the assignment God gave him. Jonah boarded a ship headed in the opposite direction to put more distance between Nineveh and him. Jonah’s decision imperiled the lives of the others on the ship because the ship was caught in the storm God sent against it. The storm led the other travelers to cry out to their gods for protection but it was to no avail. When they learned that their calamity was caused by Jonah’s disobedience to the God of the Hebrews, they feared God greatly because they witnessed the destructive power He had sent in the relentless storm. They reluctantly followed Jonah’s instructions to toss him overboard but not before they cried out to the God of the Hebrews for protection and for forgiveness for what they were about to do to Jonah. After they threw Jonah overboard and the storm ceased, then they understood that their gods were powerless and the God of the Hebrews was God. Because God had spared their lives, they offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to Him. The second noteworthy point to be seen through the lens of God’s love is that God used Jonah’s disobedience to make Himself known to a group of people who were worshiping other gods. Through this revelation, God showed His love to those who were once strangers and caused them to seek Him. Finally, Jonah in the sea was not the end of this passage of scripture. God showed His love to Jonah by preparing a great fish to swallow him and to keep him alive for three days and three nights. God’s message to the Ninevites through Jonah was a warning, which if heeded, would lead to Him sustaining the lives of the Ninevites. God’s revelation of Himself to the travelers on the ship brought them into the realm where they could experience His sustaining love. Finally, God’s preparation of the great fish was a demonstration of His sustaining love to Jonah by preserving his life in the depths of the sea for three days and nights. Robert C. Hudson March 27, 2017