The Second Time
“And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.”
The first time, Jonah ran. God said go east to Nineveh, and Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
He paid his own fare to get away.
What followed is the part everyone remembers: the storm, the lots, the sea, and a great fish. Jonah spent three days and three nights
in the belly of it. Down there he prayed, and his prayer ends with one line: Salvation is of the LORD.
Then comes a verse that is easy to read past. The word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time.
Same man. Same city. Same call. God did not pick someone more reliable. He came back to the one who ran.
Most of us have a Tarshish. A thing we know we were told to do, and a direction we went instead. It is tempting to think the first answer was the only chance. Jonah 3:1 says otherwise.
Jonah even says why he ran: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.
He was afraid God would be too merciful to Nineveh. He found out that same mercy had already reached him.
Count it yourself
- 3 + 3days and nights in the fishJonah 1:17
- 2ndtime the word came to JonahJonah 3:1
- 40days, then Nineveh overthrownJonah 3:4
- 120,000sixscore thousand who could not discernJonah 4:11
Reflect
What is your Tarshish? Is there something God already asked of you that you could answer today, the second time?
Lord, thank you for coming back to me after I ran. Give me ears to hear you the second time, and feet that go where you send. In Jesus' name, amen.