Jonah was a gifted prophet. He had the gift of prophetic persuasive speaking. Jonah could speak one word to convince the greatest skeptic. It was God that gave him this gift – but not without a divine purpose.
It would seem, however, that Jonah did not quite know who he was or the purpose of the gift he had. “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me” (Jonah 1:1-2).
God called Jonah to testify against Nineveh. But he rose up to flee to Tarshish. The Bible says that he “went down to Joppa.” He “went down” into the ship and he “went down in the sides of the ship” and was fast asleep (Jonah 1:3-5). Notice that this man was going down, down and down. A downward trend in life is the lot of those who don’t know who they are or where they are going.
From going down into the sides of the ship, where he was fast asleep in the midst of the tempest, Jonah was thrown down into the sea from where he eventually went down into the belly of the whale. Jonah went down five times. Five is the number of grace and God must have been gracious to preserve the life of Jonah.
Jonah was a powerful witness but he was “fast asleep” like many contemporary witnesses today. When the captain of the tempest-tossed ship woke him up, he asked Jonah four questions. “Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” (Jonah 1:8). Question Number One is what concerns us here.
“What is your occupation?” To this question Jonah answered – “I am a Hebrew” (Jonah 1:9). A man that does not know who he is will not know his rightful occupation. Surely being a Hebrew is more of a citizenship than an occupation.
Ask some Christians today, “What is your occupation?” Many most likely would answer “I am a lawyer,” “I am a doctor” or “I am a teacher.” Yet the primary occupation of every child of God is to be a soul-winner. Jesus said to the first disciples he called “Come ye after me and I will make you to become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).
Jonah was a prophet of Galilee called to be a witness to Nineveh. He “arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” The distance from Galilee to Nineveh was 500 miles. But the distance from Galilee to Tarshish where Jonah was running away to was 2,000 miles. A prophet was given 500 miles to go and receive a blessing, but he chose to go 2,000 miles to receive a curse. This is the lot of many people who do not know who they are or where they are going.
Thank God that Jonah repented in the belly of the whale and God gave him a second chance. As it is written, “The word of the Lord came unto Jonah a second tome saying arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city and preach unto it…” (Jonah 3:1-2).
Have you been a runaway witness like Jonah? Well, God is giving you a second chance. He is giving you a shortcut to a mighty blessing. Don’t go a long way to receive a curse
Excerpt From: PRINCIPLES OF DYNAMIC WITNESSING By Dr. Steve Ogan
