1 Samuel 8 - Rejected

Todd always looked forward to this time of year. He didn’t find math class very fun, and trying to remember all those names and dates in history was giving him a headache. But February was always the best. February was when his school started getting ready for the big play they put on every year!

He had chosen his audition piece perfectly. He knew the drama teacher couldn’t resist a big ole’ speech from Shakespeare. There were lots of thee’s and thou’s and like 100 words he didn’t understand, but Todd was sure he had still nailed that audition. And really, what did it matter? He had been the lead in the play for the last three years. He was a shoe in!

So when the drama teacher posted the cast list at the end of the day, Todd played it cool as he walked over to the drama board. All the kids were whispering and looking at him. All my adoring fans, Todd thought. I bet they can’t wait to see me perform! He started at the bottom of the sheet – Todd always checked to see how Mr. Travis had filled the supporting roles first.

“Jodie: The Toad. Mindy: Robotron 3000. Zach: King of the Goblins.” Zach’ll be great for that part, Todd thought. But then his eyes widened in horror. His name was next!

This can’t be! he thought. I’m playing Goblin Number 2? I’m not the lead!?!?! His eyes jumped to the top of the list. HARRY!?!?!?!

Harry was the new kid in school. He had come out of nowhere and taken the lead role from Todd! I’ve been robbed! Todd yelled in his head! Harry hasn’t been in a play in his life! How in the world did he beat me?!?

I’m sure some of us have felt like Todd before. We’re used to being part of something, maybe even being the centre of attention, but then suddenly someone else comes in and takes that thing away from us. Maybe you just had a new brother or sister born who’s suddenly taking all of Mom and Dad’s attention away. Or maybe you weren’t picked to be on the basketball team this year. I’ve been there, and I know that’s never fun.

We talked last week about how God is willing to use anyone at any age to do His work, like He did with Samuel. But as Samuel got older, he also had to learn that sometimes God changes what jobs He wants us to do. And sometimes, God stops using us in big, obvious ways and starts using us in smaller, more subtle ways.

In 1 Samuel 8, the Bible tells us about a change in Israel’s leadership. God had been using Samuel to lead the Israelites for years, but Samuel knew that he couldn’t stay in charge forever. He was getting old and tired, so Samuel started training his sons Joel and Abijah to take over.

Joel and Abijah weren’t very nice people though. They cheated others so that they could make lots of money. They didn’t care about serving God or helping Israel do what was right; they only cared about themselves!

The Israelites saw this and weren’t impressed! This was all the people could talk about at the markets or when visiting each other. They would grumble about how Joel and Abijah were making everybody in Israel miserable! And then they would think about some of the kingdoms around them and say, “Man, those Philistines always seem so happy, and they only ever seem to be getting stronger! Their king must be really good at ruling. Maybe we should have a king too!”

So a bunch of important people in Israel – they were called elders – met with Samuel and said to him, “You are old. Your sons don’t live as you do. So appoint a king to lead us. We want a king just like the kings all the other nations have” (1 Samuel 8:5, NIrV).

Now the Bible tells us that Samuel wasn’t too pleased when he heard this. And I can imagine why. Sure, Samuel was getting older, but he had been the leader of Israel for a long time. He had helped the Israelites win battles, and he had taught the people to listen to and obey God. Now all of a sudden, they were saying to Samuel, “You and your sons aren’t good enough anymore! We want someone else!” Talk about rude!

Not only though, but I’m sure it hurt Samuel, just like how Todd was upset that he didn’t get the lead part in the play that he was so used to getting. Or maybe like you’ve been hurting over not getting on a sports team or as much attention as your used to. And even though Samuel was a good man who had trusted God throughout his entire life, I can’t help but think that he was a little angry and a little jealous that the Israelites wanted someone else instead of him.  

Now the Bible doesn’t tell us what Samuel actually prayed that day, but I can imagine it went something like this: “Can you believe this God? You chose me to lead this people! I’ve served them for years, I’ve done everything You asked me to do, and I’ve led them to victory against the Philistines because I constantly trusted You! Now all of a sudden they want a king instead of the person You’ve chosen! Are You just going to let the Israelites get away with this?”

But whatever Samuel prayed, I love how God responded to it. God said to Samuel, “Listen to everything the people are saying to you. You are not the one they have turned their backs on. I am the one they do not want as their king” (1 Samuel 8:7).

See, Samuel might have been the human leader of Israel, but it was God who was Israel’s true king. And just like the Israelites were rejecting Samuel, God was feeling that rejection too. It’s a rejection that He’s felt many times. He felt it when Adam and Eve first chose to sin against Him, and He feels it every time one of us chooses to disobey Him and not believe in Him.

That’s important guys. God knows what it feels like to be rejected. God knows what it feels like to be the most important, most amazing, most powerful Being in the entire universe, and then to have someone else come along to try and take that away. So know that whenever you feel rejected – whenever it feels like you’ve been pushed aside – God knows rejection too and can help you through it.  

The best part, though, is that even though we have rejected God – even though we’ve chosen to disobey Him – God has made a way to fix this broken relationship with Him. God wants nothing more than for us to be reunited with Him, which is why God sent Jesus to die on the cross and rise again. Because Jesus did this, God is ready to forgive us for rejecting Him. All we need to do is believe in Him and ask Him to forgive us for all those times we’ve ignored what God wanted and disobeyed Him.

God won’t force you to believe in Him, though. He wants you to, but He won’t force you. God didn’t force the Israelites to keep Him as their king. In fact, He gave the Israelites the human king they wanted! But let me tell you, it was a disaster. Almost every king of Israel rejected God, just like the Israelites did here, and made the Israelites do terrible things over the next few hundred years.

So where does that leave us? Well, God has given us all a choice. We can either choose to reject Him like the Israelites did, or we can choose to trust that His way is best and be faithful to do what He asks us. That’s what Samuel did. God helped Samuel deal with being rejected. And even though Samuel was no longer the human leader of Israel, Samuel continued to faithfully follow any instructions that God gave him. And this pleased God greatly!

As for Todd, we saw that he was pretty angry at first that he didn’t get the lead role in the play. But just like God helped Samuel get through his rejection, God can also help Todd deal with not being the lead. And just like Samuel chose to still follow God and do what He asked, the best thing Todd could do now – the thing God would want Todd to do – is to work with Harry to put on the best show possible.

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That’s all for today folks! Next week, we’re going to finally break into the New Testament and hear one of Jesus’ parables. But if any of you parents and adults out there aren’t really sure what a parable is, that’s fine. The Second Sunday Switch-Up in a few days is all about parables and why Jesus used them. So make sure you come back for both of these posts.  

~Brentagious

1 Samuel 3 - No Age Restrictions

Amusement parks. Whether it’s Wonderland, Disney World, or your local town fair, it’s always a good day when you get to go to an amusement park. Well, maybe not always a good day. It’s all fine and dandy for those of you who live in Florida – you can go out in shorts and a T-shirt in the middle of February if you want. But I wouldn’t want to try riding a roller coaster up here in Canada right now… It’s still REALLY cold!

But let’s pretend that it’s your lucky day, and you get to go to an amusement park somewhere warm and sunny! You’ve made it through the front gates where you’re immediately blown away by the explosion of colours in the nearby flower gardens. You’re surrounded by the smells of pizza and pretzels, and you basically drag your parents after you (who just want you to slow down and see everything) as you make a beeline towards the roller coasters. You’ve had only one thought in your head all morning! This year, you know it has to be time. You’re finally tall enough to ride the biggest, fastest roller coaster in the country! You have to be!

You look up as you hear the rumble of a roller coaster above you. The screams of other riders are cut short as they rocket out of earshot. That’ll be you in a few minutes, hanging upside down and whizzing around super sharp turns. But all the sights, smells, and sounds fade away as you see your dreaded nemesis in the distance: the Height Restriction Board!

For years that board has stopped you from riding the best rides. It kept you from riding the bumper cars when you were 5, the water slide when you were 7, and the roller coaster up until now. But this year, that’s all going to change! You stand with your back against the board, confident that you’re tall enough. The park attendant tells you to stop standing on your tip toes.

He pauses for a second.

“Sorry kid… You’re an inch too short. Maybe next year.” And just like that, as the next kid steps up to the board, all your childhood dreams seem to fall apart.

If you’ve ever gone through something like this (and I’m sure most of us have at some point), I want you to remember how that felt. Think about how disappointed you were when you were told you weren’t tall enough or big enough or old enough.

And before we get to our story for today, I just want to say that I know how awful that feeling is. But please know that there are reasons for why some things have limits for how tall or old you have to be. It might seem like the only thing those height or age restrictions are doing is keeping you from having fun, but they’re really there to keep us all safe.

One of the amazing things about God, though, is that there is no height or age restriction to His love. You don’t have to be a certain age to believe in Jesus. He died on the cross for all of us equally, and He wants all of us to trust in Him! And God doesn’t have an age restriction on the people He chooses to do His work either. That’s part of the reason why I’ve always liked the story of Samuel.

You see, Samuel grew up living at the tabernacle, a special tent that the Israelites had set aside to worship God. This was the place where the Israelites could meet directly with God and He could speak to them. And like in any church or temple, there were people who worked in the tabernacle to keep things tidy and to make sure that God was worshipped properly. The Israelites called these people priests, and the main priests in Samuel’s day were a man named Eli and his sons.

Unfortunately, Eli’s sons weren’t very good priests. They often disobeyed God. And because Eli never stopped his sons from disobeying, God had sent a prophet to tell Eli that a new family would soon become the main priests of the tabernacle. But this hadn’t happened quite yet.

Anyways, while Eli dealt with his disobedient sons, he was also responsible for taking care of Samuel. Now we don’t know how long Samuel had been living at the tabernacle when our story begins, but we know that he was still pretty young. I can imagine Samuel looking around at all the priests, people who were a lot older than himself, and wondering if he was just getting in the way. There were probably many days where he thought a little kid like him just wasn’t old enough to be of any use to God. And like our friend from the amusement park who was too short to ride the roller coaster, I’m sure this often made Samuel feel pretty down.

That all changed, however, when a sleeping Samuel was woken up one night by a mysterious voice calling his name: “Samuel, Samuel!”

Now I don’t know about you, but if I had been Samuel, I probably would have jumped out of my bed and grabbed a flashlight as fast as I could! I was always afraid of the dark as a kid, and I still get pretty scared when I hear random noises in the middle of the night. Thankfully, the Bible tells us that Samuel still had some light from the lamp of God that was burning nearby, but I’m sure Samuel still shot up in bed and looked around confused.

After seeing that no one was there, Samuel did the logical thing. He thought to himself, That’s weird. Eli doesn’t usually need me at this time of night. But still, I better make sure everything’s okay. So he called back, “Here I am,” and ran over to Eli’s bed. “Here I am, Eli. You called out to me.”

To which a confused and half asleep Eli only grunted and said, “Mmph… What? No, no I didn’t… Go back to sleep Samuel. You’re imagining things!”

“But I heard…” Samuel replied, his little brow wrinkling in confusion. “I guess it was nothing. I’m sorry I woke you. Goodnight Eli.” Eli didn’t even grunt in response while Samuel returned to his bed.

As he lay back down, Samuel thought to himself, Eli’s probably right. I was probably just dreaming. Or maybe the wind… Yeah! It must’ve been the wind! And with that, Samuel stopped thinking about the mysterious voice. But just as he got comfy and started to fall asleep again, he heard a little louder this time: “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel’s eyes shot open. That was no wind! He thought… So once again, Samuel rushed over to Eli’s bed, saying, “Here I am Eli. You called out to me!”

Eli at least rolled over this time but didn’t open his eyes. “You’re just dreaming my boy. I didn’t call for you. Go and sleep!”

So for the second time that night, a confused Samuel returned to his bed, thinking, I don’t get it! I couldn’t have fallen asleep that fast. And it’s not like Eli to lie or play a trick on me. But someone’s definitely saying my name… Maybe if I lie here with my eyes open, I’ll see something.

And that’s exactly what he did. He laid there and kept his eyes open for as long as he could. But if any of you have tried staying awake when you’re really tired, you’ll know how hard this is. Samuel’s eyes grew heavy and started to shut. Must… stay… awake… Samuel thought while trying to hold back a yawn. But just as he was about to fall asleep, the voice called out even clearer than before: “Samuel, Samuel!”

The covers hadn’t even reached the floor by the time Samuel was at Eli’s bed crying, “Here I am!”

It took a few seconds before Eli slowly sat up in bed.  He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes to help himself focus. Then he looked at Samuel very closely. After a few moments of silent thought, Eli said to himself, The boy’s still so young… Could God really be calling to him?

Finally, Eli smiled at Samuel and said, “Go and lie down. If someone calls out to you again, say, ‘Speak, LORD. I’m listening’” (1 Samuel 3:8, NIrV). And Samuel, now more confused than ever, returned to his bed once again.

In the flickering torchlight, there were probably a hundred thoughts racing through Samuel’s head.  What’s going on here?!? Why is this voice talking to me? And what does God even want with me?!? But before Samuel could think any longer, God called out to Samuel one last time. “Samuel, Samuel!” So Samuel, swallowing, replied like Eli had told him to: “Speak, I’m listening.”

Well, God spoke alright! Unfortunately, it wasn’t a happy message. God confirmed with Samuel what He had said before about replacing Eli and his sons with new priests. And when Eli asked Samuel the next morning what the LORD’s message was, the Bible tells us that Samuel was kind of scared to tell Eli the bad news. But thankfully, Eli wasn’t too upset and accepted what God had decided.

What’s important for our story today, though, is that this wasn’t the last time that God spoke to Samuel. Starting that day, God had all kinds of messages for His new prophet to deliver to the Israelites! In fact, Samuel is the first prophet that the Bible talks about for more than just a chapter or two. But all of this started that night at the tabernacle when Samuel was still a boy.

God could have chosen to speak to anyone in Israel. He could have spoken to Eli or one of the older priests. He could have spoken to one of the current prophets or even one of Israel’s judges. But instead, God chose to speak through a kid probably no older than 12. And this kid would grow up to do amazing things in Israel: lead battles, make sacrifices, and crown kings.

1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young. Set an example for the believers in what you say and in how you live. Also set an example in how you love and in what you believe. Show the believers how to be pure.” Did you catch that? Don’t think that God just wants us older people to do all the teaching. You guys and girls have a lot to teach us adults too, and one of the best ways you can do that is by being an example for us of how God wants us to live!

But above all, remember this: God can choose anyone to do His work, no matter how little. God invites all of us to listen to Him and trust Him. To follow His commandments and to say and do things that please Him.

So don’t let a height or age restriction get you down. Sure, you might have to wait another year to ride that roller coaster, but know that God is willing to use you now – exactly as you are!

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That's all for now. Next week, we'll be jumping ahead in Samuel's story a little bit to when Samuel was all grown up. And no, things didn't get any easier for Samuel when he was older... But you'll hear more about that next Thursday. Hope to see you then!

~Brentagious

Joshua 2 - Operation Jericho: Redux

Before we get to today’s story about Rahab and the two Israelite spies she hid in her house, we need to talk about that weird word up top: redux. Basically, “redux” is a fancy Latin word that means “to bring back or be done again.” So, when I say that those hidden Israelites spies were in the middle of Operation Jericho: Redux, this means that they were redoing a spy mission that had failed before. So what went wrong last time? And why were the Israelites trying this mission again now?  Well, to understand that, we need to do a little recap of some of Israel’s history.

40 years before our story begins, God chose a man named Moses to lead the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for over 400 years, meaning that the Egyptians forced the Israelites to do all kinds of hard work almost all day long without ever being paid. But when the Israelites cried out to God for help, God sent Moses to help free the Israelites.

This took some convincing though. Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, refused to let the Israelites go, so God sent plagues to change Pharaoh’s mind. These plagues showed how powerful God was by making things like frogs and bugs and hail and storms destroy Egypt. That’s a whole other story for another day, but finally, after 10 plagues, Pharaoh let the Israelites go free.

God did a whole bunch of other amazing stuff after that too. He parted the Red Sea so that the

Israelites could safely escape Pharaoh’s army. And when the Israelites got to the wilderness on the other side of the Red Sea, God made bitter water turn sweet so that the Israelites would have water to drink. God even appeared on a mountain in a storm of fire and lightning to show the Israelites His incredible power!

Anyways, after a year and a half in the wilderness, the Israelites finally made it to the Jordan River. On the other side of the river was Canaan, the land that God had promised to Israel a long time ago. However, the Israelites had no idea what was waiting for them in Canaan, so Moses sent in some spies to check out the land first.

You can read the full story in Numbers 13. But long story short, this first spying mission was a disaster! When the spies got back from Canaan, 10 of the spies freaked out that there were giant people guarding giant grapes there, which the Israelites decided was a giant problem. Too giant even for God to handle! In fact, this report made the Israelites so scared of the Canaanites that the Israelites forgot everything that God had done for them before and stopped trusting Him. And because of this, God told the Israelites that they would have to wander in the wilderness for another 38 years before they could finally enter Canaan.

Not all of these 12 spies forgot about God’s amazing acts through. Two of the spies – Joshua and Caleb – remembered those amazing things God had done for Israel, and they tried to convince the Israelites that God would help them take over Canaan too. Unfortunately, the Israelites didn’t listen to Joshua or Caleb, but at least in Joshua’s case, his faith in God was one of the main reasons why God chose him to become the leader of Israel when Moses died.

And this is where the story of Rahab and the spies begins. Joshua has just become the leader of Israel, and it’s finally time for the Israelites to enter Canaan. And I bet after 38 years of wandering in the wilderness, they were super excited.

Which is why I find it so weird that Joshua decided to play Mission Impossible yet again and send in a second round of spies. That plan had backfired hugely last time! – Why in the world would Joshua want to go through all that again? Sure, Joshua only sent in 2 spies this time instead of 12, but I’m sure there were still some Israelites who were thinking, “Oh no, not again!” as the spies made their way towards the closest Canaanite city: Jericho.

Now these two new spies must not have been very good at their jobs, because the Bible tells us that the king of Jericho knew the spies were in Jericho the whole time! It didn’t take him long to send a message to Rahab, that woman we mentioned before who lived in the house the spies were hiding in, demanding that she send the spies out to him!

So how do you think Rahab responded to this? Honestly, with spies hidden in her house, I bet she was pretty scared, just like the Israelites had been 38 years earlier. Actually, the whole city was probably scared! You see, the people of Jericho—

Hang on… We’ve talked about the Israelites and the Canaanites. Don’t the people of Jericho get a cool name? The Jerichoites? Jerichonians? Jerichoecians? Hmm… If you’ve got any good ones, feel free to throw a comment down below. Otherwise, we’ll just have to figure it out as we go along…

As I was saying, the Jerichoites knew that the Israelites had this huge army waiting just across the river. They had heard about the Red Sea and about how Israel had completely destroyed their enemies in the wilderness. So yeah, I’m sure it might have crossed Rahab’s mind to just hand over the two spies to the king. The king wouldn’t have been angry with her, the spies wouldn’t have been able to send their report back to Joshua, and maybe – just maybe – this would stop the Israelites from conquering Jericho.

But Rahab knew better. She knew that God was fighting for the Israelites and that Jericho probably wasn’t going to make it. So, instead, she hid the spies on her roof and told the king, “It’s true that the men came here. But I didn’t know where they had come from. They left at sunset, when it was time to close the city gate. I know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You might catch up with them” (Joshua 2:4-5, NIrV).

Now some of you might be thinking, “But wait a second… Rahab lied! Isn’t that wrong?” And honestly, this is something that even confuses adults. But what’s important here is what Rahab’s lie did. Yes, it was wrong of her to lie, but she lied in order to save two people’s lives. So even though God wouldn’t like it that she lied, He knows that she was trying to do the right thing by helping the spies escape.

And that’s exactly what she did after she sent the Jerichoecians on a wild goose chase. See, Rahab’s hose was built so that it was connected to one of the walls of Jericho. So all she had to do was let the spies climb out her window and down the wall and they’d be safely outside the city!

But I’m sure the spies were confused. Rahab and the Jerichonese were the enemies of the Israelites. Why was she helping them?

Her answer is amazing: “I know that the LORD has given you this land. We are very much afraid of you. Everyone who lives in this country is weak with fear because of you. We’ve heard how the LORD dried up the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt…. When we heard about it, we were terrified. Because of you, we aren’t brave anymore. The LORD your God is the God who rules in heaven above and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:9-11).

Did you catch that? The Jericoletians were terrified of the Israelites and their God! And Rahab? Rahab had learned today’s lesson better than the Israelites from 38 years ago who had seen God do all those amazing things. The second she heard about God parting the Red Sea, she knew that nothing was going to be able to stop Him from giving Jericho and the rest of Canaan to the Israelites. God’s legacy was just that great!

What’s a legacy, you might ask? A legacy is all the stories of the great things that someone has done. Wayne Gretzky’s legacy here in Canada is being the greatest hockey player who ever lived. Abraham Lincoln has a legacy for being one of the best US Presidents (and sporting an awesome hat and beard). Jesus’ legacy (among other things) was dying on the cross and rising again so that our sins could be forgiven. And Rahab’s legacy was showing great faith by hiding the Israelite spies even when she was scared.

We remember all of these people for the great things they did. In the same way, Rahab remembered and trusted God because of the incredible things He did for the Israelites. And – SPOILER ALERT – because Rahab remembered these things and trusted that God would save her if she asked the spies for help, He did! When the walls came tumbling down on the Jerickiwis, her house wasn’t destroyed.

Think about that for a second. Rahab’s house was PART OF THE WALL!!! Her house should have crumbled like the rest of the walls of Jericho. But because she trusted God, God did the impossible once again and somehow kept her house safe and intact when the rest of the walls fell apart. That’s just one more amazing thing to add to God’s legacy!

See guys: God’s actions leave a legacy we can trust. And because Rahab trusted in the God that she had heard so many amazing things about, she was saved! Just think: If the Israelites had recognized God’s legacy 38 years earlier, they wouldn’t have been stuck in the wilderness all that time. But when these two spies went back to Joshua and told him all about their adventure, we see that the Israelites had finally learned their lesson. They remembered God’s legacy and were finally ready to follow Him into the Promised Land!

Honestly, this is why I’m so thankful God has given us the Bible. It’s filled with stories that tell us all about God’s legacy and gives us reasons to trust Him! So make sure you take the time to read some of those stories. You’ll be amazed at the things you’ll learn! And it might just make you want to trust God a little more, just like Rahab.

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Hope you enjoyed that! Don't forget to comment your name for the people of Jericho. And come back next week when we talk about another really famous guy from the Old Testament: Samuel!

~Brentagious

Jonah 3-4: You Don't Deserve a Second Chance

Huh… That title’s a little harsh. I can’t actually mean that, can I? Well, give me a few minutes and you’ll see. But until then, I want to talk about something completely different.

The Bible is filled with some weird and wacky stories about prophets. A prophet, as we learned last week, is someone who delivers messages from God to His people. And man, these prophets did some strange stuff to deliver those messages. Elijah called down fire from heaven. Ezekiel laid on the ground for over a year. Isaiah ran around naked… (Don’t try that one at home kids!). But each of the prophets did those odd things because God asked them to.

Then there’s Jonah… Jonah ran away from God, risking a bunch of sailors’ lives in the process, and then got eaten by a fish to get him back on track. And when Jonah finally did go to Nineveh like God had wanted to all along, Jonah still got it wrong! As far as prophets go, I can’t see Jonah winning the “Prophet of the Year” award any time soon.

Now when I learned the story of Jonah in Sunday school, the moral of the story was usually that God can use anyone, even when we make mistakes. And don’t get me wrong, that’s absolutely true. After all, that’s exactly what we talked about two weeks ago. All we have to do is turn back to God, ask Him to forgive us, and then be willing to do what He asks from that point forward. We partly talked about that last week. And if Jonah’s story ended with Chapter 3, I’d say that those would be two great morals for the whole book.

But the problem is that we get to hear about what Jonah did after he preached to the Ninevites. And sadly, it’s not pretty. But let’s slow down for a second and first make sure that we know about the amazing thing that happened in Nineveh.

After brushing off the whale vomit, Jonah received another message from God telling him to do the same thing that God had told Jonah to do before. Go to Nineveh. Give the Ninevites a message from the LORD. Jonah had learned that running from God didn’t end well, so off to Nineveh he went. He would give them God’s message, and Jonah hoped it would come true.

See, the Ninevites were not very nice people. They were unkind, they hurt people, and they did whatever they wanted without ever thinking about what God wanted. So the message from God was that if the Ninevites kept acting like this, their entire city would be destroyed in 40 days.

Now as far as Jonah was concerned – as far as everyone in Israel was concerned for that matter – the Ninevites deserved to have their city destroyed! God was finally going to get rid of that cruel, awful city! And it was about time too!

So Jonah made sure that every single Ninevite knew what was coming. He went through the entire city for three days telling everyone he saw that in just over a month, BAM! Fire and lightning! Destruction! Nineveh would be history! Jericho’s walls coming down would have nothing on what God was going to do to Nineveh.

But as Jonah wandered the city telling everyone they were going to die in a blazing glory in a few weeks’ time, something incredible happened. The Ninevites realized that Jonah was serious. They realized that if they kept doing what they were doing – if they kept disobeying God – they were actually going to be destroyed.

For some of them, this would have been shocking. They didn’t know any better! They thought it was normal to be mean to others. But when Jonah came, they realized that what they were doing was wrong. And as a result, they repented – they were sorry for what they had done, changed their minds, and decided instead to listen to what God wanted them to do.

So, they fasted for a few days. This means that nobody ate or drank anything, and they used that time to say sorry to God instead. But even more importantly, they stopped doing those terrible things they were doing before. The king of Nineveh even sent out a message to the city, saying, “All of you must call out to God with all your hearts. Stop doing what is evil. Don’t harm others. Who knows? God might take pity on us. He might not be angry with us anymore. Then we won’t die” (Jonah 3:8-9, NIrV).

And you know what? God did take pity on them! When God saw that the Ninevites stopped doing those terrible things and started listening to Him, He showed His love and compassion to the people of Nineveh – people who didn’t deserve it – and God ended up not destroying the city after all!

Again, back when I was in Sunday school, this is where the story ended. Jonah had learned his lesson that God is willing to show love and compassion to everyone, including both the people of Nineveh and Jonah himself. The Ninevites were saved and probably had a big party to celebrate. And we all thought Jonah was down there celebrating too!

But that’s not what happens… The Bible tells at the beginning of Jonah 4, “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong. He became angry” (4:1).

Angry? Jonah was angry that God had forgiven the Ninevites? He thought it was wrong? And here I thought Jonah would have been happy!

Jonah goes on to say, “LORD, isn’t this exactly what I thought would happen when I was still at home? This is what I tried to prevent by running away to Tarshsish. I knew that you are gracious. You are tender and kind. You are slow to get angry. You are full of love. You are a God who takes pity on people. You don’t want to destroy them” (4:2).

That’s what made Jonah run away? It wasn’t because he was scared of the mean old Ninevites. No, it was because Jonah knew that if the Ninevites repented and turned back to God, then God’s love was so great that He would forgive them. Jonah didn’t think the Ninevites deserved this second chance. They had been terrible people. As far as Jonah was concerned, it was time for them to be destroyed. And sadly, the story ends with Jonah still thinking this.

But here’s the funny thing guys: None of us deserve a second chance. Yeah, I was being serious with that title. Not the Ninevites. Not Jonah. Not you or me. Because we sin – because we do things that are wrong and that God doesn’t like – we all deserve to be destroyed, just like Jonah thought the Ninevites should have been destroyed.

But you know what?  God wants to forgive everyone, even though we don’t deserve it. There’s a special word for this: mercy. Mercy means not getting what we deserve. Mercy means that when you do something wrong, you don’t get punished for it like you should be. God shows us mercy by forgiving us when we ask instead of punishing us like we deserve.

And there’s one very important reason why God is willing to do this. It’s because He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross and rise again. When Jesus died, he took the punishment that we all deserve: death. Even though it was thousands of years ago for us, and hundreds of years after Jonah lived, Jesus died so that all of us could be forgiven. All we need to do is ask.

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s amazing that we serve a God who would do something like that. That He would make a way to save all of us, even though we don’t deserve it. And yeah, there may be days like Jonah where you think that someone else doesn’t deserve a second chance. But in those times, remember Jonah and the Ninevites. Remember that you don’t deserve a second chance either. And then remember that, because of Jesus, God still gives us one anyway.

                                                            

That’s it for Jonah! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this first big story as much as I’ve enjoyed telling it. Next week, we’re going back in time a little ways to talk about a guy named Joshua, a girl named Rahab, and that Jericho place I mentioned above that actually did get destroyed.  See you then!

~Brentagious