Jonah
By Sami Hoerger

Jonah had tried to run and hide from the Lord. We all know what happened, a big storm came while at sea and Jonah was thrown overboard. He was swallowed by a whale and was in the stomach 3 days and 3 nights. During that time, Jonah prayed to the Lord saying he would make things right, he asked for forgiveness, and offered to make sacrifices in his life because the Lord had saved him from drowning. Then the Lord made the whale vomit Jonah onto dry land.

Now, I know what you are all thinking, yes it is the same story you have probably heard since you were little. But, what you probably didn’t hear was what happened after this.

The Lord told Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and give a message. The message was “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown!” and everyone believed it was a true message from God. Once they heard this, they were ordered to turn from their evil ways and ask God for forgiveness of their sins in hope of God forgiving him and changing their mind.

When God saw this, he decided not to bring the destruction on them. The theme is “Good News for the Enemy?” well, if that was a question someone were asking me, I would say they were not the Enemy anymore when the good news came. God changed his mind because the city of Nineveh realized what they had done wrong and decided to make a change. I think that is the big picture to this story. If we realize what we have done wrong, then God will see that and forgive. If we don’t and keep on making the same mistakes, then nothing is really going to get any better in our life. We all sin, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be forgiven for it.