TODAY IN THE WORD
The great hymnwriter Charles Wesley exulted in God’s love: “Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav’n, to earth come down! / Fix in us Thy humble dwelling; All Thy faithful mercies crown. / Jesus, Thou art all compassion; Pure, unbounded love Thou art. / Visit us with Thy salvation; Enter every trembling heart. . . . Finish then Thy new creation; Pure and spotless let us be. / Let us see Thy great salvation, Perfectly restored in Thee. / Changed from glory into glory, Till in heav’n we take our place, / Till we cast our crowns before Thee, Lost in wonder, love and praise.”

In this classic hymn, as in today’s Scripture reading, we hear the praise and prayer of a man who rejoices in God’s salvation. From a rebellious and disobedient prophet, Jonah was transformed into a man who worshiped, gave thanks, and promised, “What I have vowed I will make good” (v. 9). By this he meant he would be obedient to God’s call on his life—he would go to Nineveh and deliver God’s message. No more running; no more fighting. “Salvation comes from the LORD” indeed! After the miracles and acts of God already recorded, there came one more. The fish “vomited Jonah onto dry land” (v. 10). This is not very flattering language, but the prophet’s life was saved. That’s why Jonah pitied those “who cling to worthless idols” when the one true God alone deserves faith and worship.

God knew very well that Jonah still had much to learn, but He had mercy on him anyway. The rest of the book testifies to the fact that the prophet persisted in his sin of failing to love his neighbor, a sin rooted in misunderstanding the heart of God and His love for the world. While today’s reading shows a heart yearning once again for the Lord, later events would show this same heart to be made of stone (4:10-11). Isn’t this typical of human nature? We repent, then backslide; confess our sin, then repeat it; and return to the Lord, only to find our self-deception and sin run deeper than we had imagined. And He loves us anyway!

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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Part of the transformation God worked in Jonah’s heart was to make him willing to receive grace. The prophet had resisted God’s merciful pursuit, preferring to drown in the Mediterranean rather than cry out to the Lord. Until he came to his senses, he had been among those willing to “forfeit the grace that could be theirs” (v. 8). Like Jonah, we should know better. But all too often we cling to our own ways rather than casting ourselves upon God’s mercy and grace.

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