Jonah’s experience gives us a closer look into our own hearts. He shows us how we can be fearful, selfish, spiteful, and proud. He thought he could avoid God by running, sacrificing himself, outright disobeying, and then feeling sorry for himself. Jonah shows us an example of disobedience and reluctant obedience. And the Holy Spirit shared with me that disobedience and reluctant obedience practically give off the same aroma to Him. (ouch!)
Jonah’s experience also shows us that our circle of people can be directly affected by our choices in more ways than we think. His disobedience affected not only the city of Ninevah, but the lives of the men on the ship were in danger. The men were frantically trying to save themselves, even tossing their cargo. And during this intense storm and with everything that was going on, Jonah was knocked out in a deep sleep. Jonah 1:5 (NLT) says, “Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold.” Jonah’s actions didn’t bother his conscience one bit. But the absence of guilt is not the best way to measure whether or not we are doing the right thing. Think about it. It can be really easy for us to justify or rationalize our actions. (Have you ever done something you knew wasn’t right, but you still felt pretty good about doing it?) We have to look at what God says, not how we feel at any given moment.
The Manna Chef 