"Mercy In Disguise," a Sneak Peek into Refresh Your Faith

On Monday, April 13, 2020, Refresh Your Faith, Uncommon Devotions from Every Book of the Bible will launch on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and ChristianBook.com. 

Before it does, I want to share a sneak preview with you, my friends and faithful readers. I hope the devotion from the book of Jonah, “Mercy In Disguise,” will encourage and inspire you today. 

Thanks for praying that the book launches well and reaches everyone who needs to refresh their faith and draw closer to God. 

Hugs, 
Lori 

Jonah 

Mercy in Disguise

“Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy.” Jonah 2:8 (nkjv) 

Does anyone not know the story of Jonah? Rebellious prophet catches the first ship headed south after God calls him north to preach to the wicked Ninevites. A storm arises, threatening the ship and all those on board. Jonah confesses his sin, offers his life in exchange for the crew’s, and urges the sailors to toss him overboard. 

But instead of drowning, Jonah gets swallowed by a great fish, who just happens to be swimming toward Nineveh. Jonah repents of his rebellious ways, the fish burps him out, and he heads toward the city center, preaching repentance as he goes. The city responds, and they all live happily ever after. The End. 

If you ask someone, “Who gets saved in the book of Jonah?” they’ll respond, “Why, the Ninevites, of course.” Every kid in children’s church knows this. Jonah shines as an ambassador of God’s mercy toward the disobedient, unbelieving Ninevites. But hidden in the first chapter, we find something unexpected—glistening examples of God’s mercy toward Jonah, toward a disobedient, believing Hebrew. 

The first glimmer of God’s mercy toward Jonah comes in the form of a storm. “The Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up” (Jonah 1:4). 

Jonah recognized it for what it was—a divine response to his sin. “I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you,” he told his shipmates (verse 12). But he was wrong about God’s intent. Jonah assumed the storm was meant to kill him as punishment for disobeying God’s call to go to Nineveh. And he was willing to accept his sentence. But he wasn’t willing to take the entire crew with him. He instructed the sailors, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea . . . and it will become calm.” 

They did. And it did. 

Jonah was a dead man. He knew it and the sailors knew it. As they threw him overboard, they prayed to God, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life” (verse 14). 

But God didn’t send the powerful storm to destroy Jonah. He sent it to save him. How do we know this? Because Jonah didn’t drown. God sent the storm to save Jonah from himself. 

As he sank into the depths of the sea, God extended His mercy a second time. Instead of wind and waves, however, God sent a whale. “Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah” (verse 17). 

In Jonah’s mind, his situation went from bad to worse, but we know better. Instead of becoming fish bait, Jonah became a passenger in the world’s first submarine. God used the great fish to shelter and transport Jonah back to a place of repentance and restoration. 

But Jonah’s repentance wasn’t instantaneous. While he should have been praising God for his unlikely rescue, he sat with his arms crossed in the pitch-black belly of the whale for three days and three nights. Floating in gastric juices and breathing the stench of rotting fish carcasses, he resisted God’s mercy and clung to his worthless idols of prejudice, superiority, and rebellion. 

Until a light dawned.  

“When my life was ebbing away,” Jonah prayed, “I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple” (Jonah 2:7). 

“And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land” (verse 10). 

As Christians, we all have our Jonah moments. We sense God’s call and run the other way. Fear, prejudice, a lack of faith, or a school of other excuses hinder us from obeying what we know He wants us to do. 

Because He’s committed to helping us grow and bear spiritual fruit, He orders the circumstances of our lives to give us every opportunity to turn back to himself. What looks like punishment might instead be the velvet glove of mercy. 

When we return to Him, He’ll again work through us to bless other people. We may not see an entire city come to faith in God like Jonah did, but we can be confident He’ll use us to accomplish His good and perfect will in the lives of those around us. 

Uncommon Thought 

What looks like judgment may instead be God’s mercy in disguise. 

Unusual Faith 

As you look back on the difficult seasons of your life, have you ever considered the possibility that God may have allowed those times to draw you closer to himself or to redirect your steps? Could what looked like punishment instead have been a manifestation of His mercy? What about your life now? Are you walking in obedience to God, or are you running in the opposite direction? Have you been reluctant to obey something He’s called you to do? Demonstrate your faith by saying yes today. 

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