What can we learn from the story of Jonah? Listen to Susie’s powerful conversation with pastor Lee Cummings, author of the book . We talk about how God used a reluctant prophet to bring a whole city to repentance.
Lee talks about why Jonah struggled with his call to preach to Nineveh.
“Jonah is a prophet of the people of Israel. Nineveh was the capital city of their arch-enemies, Assyria. Israel was not living up to their covenant responsibilities. For Jonah, instead of just doing what God had called, he chose to run. Because he did not want the people of Nineveh to repent.”
Lee draws a comparison to ISIS.
“It’s easy for us to objectify people who are doing these things and see them as enemies. I’m so grateful God is a God of justice and protection of the innocent. At the same token, as hard as it is for us to believe, Jesus died for those people too. The people who are entrapped in this religious system are captives just as much [as] any of us who are bound by sin. Jesus will not be kept from the people He spilled His blood to redeem.”
Lee and Susie explore
• The importance of walking in humility.
• Why resisting God’s leading quenches His Spirit.
• The correlation of our prayer life and our walk with God.
• The power of “gut-level prayers.”
Lee offers a final word on the fish that swallowed Jonah and repositioned him back to Nineveh. “I think it represents God’s grace – even in his rebellion, running away, losing it all, God picked him up. God’s like that with all of us. We mess up, we have our bad days, attitudes, biases… but the moment we cry out to God, we can get back on track once our heart has been shaped to be like His heart.”
Key Scriptures: Hebrews 12:28; Jonah
Theme Song: On Our Side by Lincoln Brewster
This program has been previously aired.
