Jonah

Theme 1: The Lord is sovereign and we must be willing to obey his commands. Even when we do not understand Jehovah's logic and his commands seem foolish to us , he must still be obeyed. Jonah fled from the Lord heading west instead of east as he did not want to proclaim God's message of salvation to his country's enemies the Assryians. ( 1:1-3). The Lord caused a great storm and the people with Jonah are afraid and they listen to his command and throw him into the sea. Jonah is saved by a whale. ( 1:17). The whale takes him to Niveah and spits him out on dry land. Thus Jonah beings to tell the people God 's message. ( 4:4).

Theme 2: The Lord alone is to be worshiped as he is the one who saves us from death. In the belly of the whale Jonah prayed to the Lord and thanked him for saving his life and acknowledge that the Lord was in control of all things and that deliverance from death was his alone. ( 2:6-9).

Theme 3 : The Lord in his mercy listens to our prayers and can change his mind. Jonah proclaimed the Lord's message of judgement walking around the city for 3 days. The King of Niveah proclaimed a fast and the people repented. Thus the Lord decided not to destroy the city of Niveah. ( 3:1-10).

Theme 4: We must have compassion on all people and see them from the Lord's viewpoint. Jonah was angry and said to the Lord that he was mad enough to die because of what happened. ( 4:1-3). God provided him with a plant to shade him from the sun and then caused the plant to die. Jonah became angry at the Lord and was rebuked by him. The Lord told him that it was foolish to be upset about a plant that he did not make and not be concerned about Niveah which had 120 000 men plus women and children. ( 4:4-11).