Someone has said, and rightly so, I believe, that if man had written the Bible, certain parts would not be included—parts where some of the key people’s weaknesses, failures, and outright sins are revealed. Jonah is near the top of the list of stories that I probably would have left out if I had written it.

God wants to get a message of impending judgment to Ninevah, and the man he chose did not want to go. Why? Because Jonah hated the Ninevites, and he hoped that God would destroy them. Rather than running to the mission field, he attempted to run away from it. But God wouldn’t let him off the hook!! (Pun intended) Rather than Jonah catching a fish, a fish caught Jonah. That puts a whole new spin on a whopper of a fishing story!

When Jonah finally got to Nineveh, the whole city repented. According to Jonah 4:11, at least 120,000 people repented. How did Jonah respond? He got angry at God for not destroying them. The hatred Jonah had for these people was still in his heart. The last we see of Jonah, he is sitting on what must have been a hill, waiting and hoping that God would destroy them. When God showed mercy to those who repented, Jonah got angry. Nineveh repented, but I’m not sure if Jonah ever did. God help us never to harbor so much hatred toward anyone that we would rather see them destroyed than repent.

Then there was Balaam, who also was not a very obedient prophet. God caused a donkey to speak to get his attention. Whales and donkeys! I pray that God never has to go to such extremes to get my attention. More importantly, I hope my heart is never filled with such hatred and greed that I won’t listen to God.