Monday Devo

Jonah 1:1-3
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

1:1 Jonah prophesied prosperity for Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:23–28). Jonah means “dove,” a symbol for Israel as silly and senseless (Hos. 7:11); Jonah will be true to his name. Son of Amittai means “son of my faithfulness”; Jonah will remain the object of God’s faithful love.

1:2 Nineveh sat on the east bank of the Tigris River about 220 miles (354 km) north of present-day Baghdad and over 500 miles (805 km) northeast of Israel. Great (Hb. gadol) is used 14 times in Jonah. Nineveh was an important (“great”) city (see 3:3). evil. As the ESV footnote indicates, the same Hebrew term (Hb. ra‘ah; used 9 times in Jonah [see chart]) can mean “evil” or “disaster.” The Ninevites were evil, and they were in line for disaster.

1:3 To Tarshish is repeated three times in this verse to underscore that Jonah is not going to Nineveh. Tarshish, an unknown locale associated with distant coastlands, was somewhere in the western Mediterranean—the opposite direction from Nineveh. From the presence of the LORD is repeated at the end of this verse to underscore Jonah’s purpose in going to Tarshish. Went down (see also v. 5; 2:6; the same verb is used for went on board) is also a euphemism for death (e.g., Gen. 37:35). The suggestion is that each step away from the presence of the Lord is one step closer to “going down” to death (see notes on Jonah 1:4–5; 2:6).


Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1687.

Leon Lett was an elite athlete, yet many only remember the fumble. Jonah’s name meant "faithful" and "compliant," yet he is famous for being the rebel in the belly of a whale. It is so easy for a single season, a specific mistake, or a period of disobedience to become the headline of our story.

• Is there a particular mistake or a season in your past that still seems to define you? When you truly look at yourself through God’s eyes, do you see His beloved child, or do you see only that one failure?
• How has that season shaped the way you think about yourself and your faith today? Does it push you closer to God’s grace, or has it built walls of shame that keep you from stepping into the next chapter He has prepared for you?
• Are there areas where you easily notice others’ sin but struggle to acknowledge your own? Why is it often simpler to point out someone else’s sin than to confront the ways you run from God?

3. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?  Since “all have sinned” and the “wages of sin is death,” Jesus had to die on the cross to pay the fine for my sin so I could be right with God.

(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)