Jonah was heading away from the place God asked him to go. He was asked to go to Nineveh and call people to repentance.   

Instead, he headed for Tarshish, a location in Spain 2500 miles in the opposite direction from Nineveh. 

As he heads to Tarshish, a major storm arises threatening the safety of the boat. Jonah is found sleeping through this storm. 

In scripture, sleeping through storms is an indication you are in God’s favor. However, with Jonah we know he knows he is directly disobeying God. His decision to disobey places everyone’s life on the boat in jeopardy.  

It seems that as a prophet, telling people to repent would be Jonah’s cup of tea. The reason he doesn’t want to go to Nineveh is because of his deep hatred for these people and he fears God who is compassionate, will spare the Ninevites. He wants them destroyed.  

I consider a story from camp quite a few years ago. A teen had gotten pregnant during the school year. Her parents had asked for her to be at camp for a few weeks to regain her confidence and joy. She worked with us in the camp kitchen and store.  

During the week, a coach’s wife approached my mom who ran the kitchen and mentioned how proud she was of her own daughter because of her moral purity. She said her daughter had been so outraged by this young pregnant girl she couldn’t eat with her during meals because she was so troubled by this young mother’s sin.   

Instead of encouraging her daughter’s compassion toward another suffering person, she taught her to head to Tarshish.   

I meditate on these stories as I consider how my own sense of justice and righteous indignation set me at odds with God and His compassion. How do I increase the suffering of others by my own lack of compassion?   

“The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all he has made.”  – Psalm 145:8-9 

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