Jonah 1:1-16 NIV. I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas break. Happy New Year! Have you ever had one of those sat-nav situations where, no matter how far you drive in the wrong direction, it keeps rerouting? It will just keep saying, “Make a U-turn, make a U-turn…” That’s the story of Jonah. God tells Jonah to go north-east to Nineveh, but Jonah heads west, to Joppa. And the book of Jonah shows us something remarkable: God’s primary response to people heading the wrong direction is not abandonment, but mercy. Like that sat-nav, God keeps pursuing, rerouting, and calling us back. Jonah takes us on a journey into the nature of God’s mercy. In the passage, Jonah refuses to be sent, so God demonstrates the sovereignty of His mercy by sending the unexpected. God sent a great wind: Jonah ran away from God’s Presence to seek refuge at sea: a Biblical imagery of chaos and hostility to God (Gen ...
