Repentance From Mercy

by | Sep 29, 2026 | Articles, Mentors Corner

 “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”  But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.  And the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up”  (Jonah 1:1-4). Jonah is most associated with the whale, or huge fish, depending on your translation.   We can have a tendency to see the whale as a disciplinary measure toward Jonah.  I would argue the whale is actual a sign of God’s mercy. The account of Jonah starts very simple:  God told Jonah to “Go to Nineveh” and “cry out against it.” God told Jonah exactly where to go and what to do.  Despite direct contact from the Almighty Himself, Jonah decided to go in the opposite direction, instead boarding a ship headed to Tarshish.  That was not the correct response. God sent a storm that almost breaks up the ship.  After some frantic actions, it is determined Jonah is the problem –he ends up in the sea. Jonah finds himself alone, presumably with no life jacket or other means of floatation.  All seems desperate, bleak, and hopeless.  Jonah disobeyed God and suffered the consequences of his wrong action in what...