The story of Jonah’s second chance is a familiar one: the prophet Jonah was told to preach to the people of Ninevah, but he ran from God and was swallowed by a whale. God had the fish spit Jonah out and gave Jonah another chance to obey Him. Jonah went to Ninevah and preached, but then he was unhappy when the people of Ninevah repented and God showed them mercy.
A bit hypocritical, eh?
But there’s something we can learn from Jonah. The obvious lesson is that God is a God of second chances. The birth and death of Jesus is proof of that. Our Savior came to Earth to give us a second chance at eternal life with God, even though we don’t deserve it. And when Jonah cried out to God, God not only heard him but had mercy on him (Jonah 2:10). Then God gave Jonah another chance to follow God (Jonah 3:2).
But Jonah didn’t give the people of Ninevah a second chance. When God decided to have mercy on Ninevah (Jonah 3:10), it made Jonah angry (Jonah 4:1). Despite God giving Jonah a second chance, Jonah didn’t offer that to the people of Ninevah.
And I think that is still the attitude today. We love talking about God’s mercy. And we love rejoicing when He forgives us. But we struggle to extend that forgiveness to others.
Jesus had something to say about this in Matthew 18. In His parable, He describes a man who owes a great debt and asking for mercy. When his lord had mercy and released him, the man went to collect a debt from someone and didn’t show that same compassion (Matt. 18:23-34).
In verse 35, Jesus said, So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
God wants us to extend mercy to others. He wants us to offer second chances. Because God doesn’t just give second chances, He also helps us give second chances to others. And maybe that’s something we need to do more of in the new year.
For more posts on what we can learn from biblical figures, check out my post Lessons from Zacchaeus: Are You the Crowd or the Tree? or my post What We Can Learn from Paul.
2 thoughts on “God is a God of Second Chances: Lessons from Jonah”
Great teaching. Thank you so much.
It’s really amazing how we can freely receive mercy and grace from The Lord, and literally refuse to give mercy and grace back to others. Lord, we need your help in this area.
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