The Story of Jonah and the Whale in Balloons

 

Jonah and the Whale.

by Andrew Grosjean

www.balloontwisting.net

I want to tell you a story. It’s a story about a fish. It’s a mighty fishy story.

This is the story of Jonah. He was a prophet. But he was a sad prophet.  He was sad because God told him to do something he did not want to do.

God told Jonah to go way over there to a place called Nineveh. God wanted Jonah to tell them that in forty days, God was going to destroy the whole city of Nineveh with a nuclear explosion. Well it was fire and brimstone. . . Basically a nuclear explosion right? See the people of Nineveh were bad. They were really bad. They were so bad. . . I’m not even going to tell you how bad they were.

Jonah did not want to warn Nineveh, because he hated the people of Nineveh. He knew that if he waned Nineveh, the people might ask God for mercy. And Jonah knew that God was a merciful God. He wanted Nineveh to get destroyed. Now, we are not supposed to hate people are we? But Jonah had some issues.

So, instead of going over to Nineveh, he went the opposite direction toward Joppa. From there he was sailing across the Mediterranean Sea toward Tarshish. Here he is in the belly of the boat.

Do you know what Jonah was doing while he was in the belly of that boat? He was sleeping like a baby. But God knew where Jonah was because God always knows where we are. He knows what we are doing. He even knows what we are thinking. He knew how to fix Jonah.

So, God sent a great storm. And the boat was not gently rocking any more. It was rocking back and forth wildly in the storm.

All the people thought they were going to die! So, they said "What do we do? What do we do?

Jonah said, "It’s my fault. I disobeyed God."

So the people said, "What do we do?"

Jonah said, "You have to throw me over the side of the ship."

The people said, "But you’ll die."

Jonah said, "It’s the only way."

So, you know what they did? They threw him over the side of the ship. He’s gone. He’s outta’ there.

But God had a special messenger waiting for Jonah. The great fish swallowed Jonah whole. Jonah was in the belly of that fish for count ‘um. . . three days and three nights. And you know what Jonah was doing while he was in the belly of that fish?  He was not sleeping like a baby this time! He was praying. And he said, "God I’m sorry. Please forgive me! I’ll do what ever you want, but please forgive me!"

And you know what happened . . . God had mercy on him, because God is a merciful God. So, the whale spit Jonah up.

So, Jonah went to Nineveh and started at one end of the city and walked to the other end and told the people God’s message. "I forty days, God is going to destroy the city!"

So, you know what the people of Nineveh did? They stopped eating and they stopped drinking, and they prayed. And they said, "God we’re sorry! Please have mercy on us! Please forgive us!" And you know what happened. God had mercy on them, because God is a merciful God.  He did not destroy the city yet.

See, a hundred years later, the people were doing the same old thing again and God sent another prophet, Nahum. And this time the people would not listen. And this time God destroyed the whole city. So, don’t presume on God’s mercy. Continue to walk in it.