Relentless Mercy: A Sermonic Commentary on Jonah

You mean the Jonah? As in Jonah and the whale?

The book of Jonah is more than just a story about a "whale" that swallowed a prophet. In fact, it's probably not a whale at all! The little book of Jonah tells a big story...a story about a runaway, disobedient prophet and the God of Heaven and Earth who pursues him to the depths of his own despair as well as the depths of the earth.

We all have something to learn from Jonah. We learn that we are just like Jonah. We have the same tendencies toward selfishness and pride, the same depths of depression and anger when things don't go our way. But we also have the same God who pursues us with a relentless mercy. For those who are His children by faith, He pursues us to walk with Him and find our sufficiency in Him alone. For those who have not yet yielded their heart to Him, those who are far from Him, He pursues them because He created them, loves them and desires for them to know of His incredible love.

John M. Burris (M.A.C.E., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Associate Pastor at Kingwood First Baptist Church in Kingwood, TX. He has been in ministry for 34 years. He is the author of The Visible Presence: Appearance of Christ in the Old Testament and was a contributor in The Jesus Bible project for students.