The Introspection Of God's Character In The Book Of Jonah

In this essay, I will provide evidence to show that the story of Jonah was written in order to teach readers about God’s nature, invoke introspection, and to encourage and help the reader to remember his or her purpose in life. First, I will show that God is all-powerful, in that He wrought many supernatural events throughout this time. I will also discuss how God is all-knowing, how He was able to work through less-than-optimal circumstances to bring about His will. Furthermore, I will argue that God is an all-loving God, and that He cares for each despite what they do. Lastly, I will show how this narrative portrays God’s will for us: that we are to exemplify His character in ministry to others and that all may be saved. The book of Jonah
In the narrative of Jonah, we see several instances win which God causes supernatural events to occur. First, God, ‘sent out a great wind…and… a mighty tempest in the sea’ (Jonah 1:4). We can see from this that after Jonah had been thrown into the sea, the water immediately ‘ceased her raging’ (verse 15). During the storm, the sailors had cast lots in order to determine who had ‘cause[d]’ such ‘evil’ to come upon them and, by God’s providence, ‘the lot fell upon Jonah’ (verse 7). In verse 17, we see that God ‘had prepared a great fish’ to come and swallow Jonah; God had appointed the fish to swallow Jonah. In the same verse, it says that Jonah was in the fish’s belly for ‘three days and three nights’. Therefore we can infer that, in order for Jonah to have survived, God would have had to preserve him from drowning, suffocation, dehydration, digestion, bleaching, and intense body heat exposure. In the next chapter, God ‘spake’ to the fish (Jonah 2:10), and the fish then vomited Jonah onto the land. This tells us that God was able to communicate to the fish, and it was able to understand and comply. Fast-forward to chapter four where God ‘prepared’ a ‘gourd’ to grow in less than a day and shelter Jonah from the sweltering heat (Jonah 4:6). He then appoints a ‘worm’ to quickly destroy the plant so that it dies that same day (verse 7).
In these four chapters, we see two forms of pronounced transgression: the open rebellion of Jonah (Jonah 1:3) and the offensive ignorance of the Ninevites (Jonah 4:11). Despite the childlike disobedience and flagrant attitude of Jonah, God was patient and sought to work with him still, and even cater to his desires and needs (Jonah 4:6), in order that he might learn. Despite the evil in the city of Nineveh, God did not wipe out the city’s inhabitants—He instead saved them (Jonah 3:10). Although Jonah disregarded God’s command (Jonah 1:3), complained (Jonah 4:3), and desired contrary to His will (Jonah 4:1), God did not cast him aside—He worked with Jonah in his current state. God had compassion on Jonah (Jonah 2:10) and the people in Nineveh (Jonah 3:10); He had concern for their well-being and worked to ensure their safety. God forgave the people in Nineveh because they had repented of their wickedness (Jonah 3:10). He forgave Jonah the many times he protested (Jonah 1:3, 4:1, 3, 8). God’s mercy is shown in that He afforded Jonah and the Ninevites both compassion and forgiveness despite the fact that they did not deserve it. The story of Jonah gives us insight into the loving character of God and the lengths to which He will