Montrose, Colorado

Rev. Willis A. (Bert) Jones, a country preacher & Bible teacher

December 12, 2015

As a child I heard someone talking about the "Big Fish" story. It was this true story about a certain man, God telling this man to go to Nineveh, and then he goes another direction. You can read the story in a short Old Testament book of Jonah, only 48 verses -- 4 chapters.

Jonah boards a ship bound to Tarshish, a place far to the west, across the Mediterranean Sea. A great storm came. The sailors took a vote and looked to Jonah as to why the storm. Jonah confessed he was running away from God, so they threw him overboard and the storm stopped. God had a big fish swim by and swallow Jonah whole.

In the belly of the fish, dark and cramped, Jonah began to pray. Repentant, he spoke in the past tense that God had saved him and he gave glory to God That was a prayer of faith. The fish vomited him out on dry land, and then God told him a second time to go to Nineveh. Jonah promptly went and preached the "Word of the Lord" - repent! If they didn't Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days.

The people repented and God gave them about 200 more years. This disappointed Jonah! He wanted God to punish the Ninevites, instead God had forgiven them. Jonah sulked under a booth he built; even God grew a large plant for shade. The next day God had the plant die and now Jonah had no shade. The God said; But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" "I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die." But the LORD said:

"You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" Jonah 4:1-11 (NIV)