Lesson 7: Second Chances (Jonah 2:9-3:3)

1. Read Jonah 2:9. Remember that Jonah is presently in the
   big fish. What is Jonah promising God? (Jonah has made a
   vow (a promise) to God.)





1. What do you think Jonah promised? (At some point in
   the storm/fish experience, Jonah must have promised
   God that if he got out of this alive, he would serve
   God again.)





2. In the law we have something called “duress.” You can
   get out of an agreement if you are subject to duress.
   Here is an example: a fellow sues me because I
   refused to sell him my car for $50.00. When we get
   to court the judge asks me if I promised to sell the
   car for that amount. I saw, “Yes, Judge, I did agree
   to that. However, at the moment the “buyer” was car-jacking my car and had a gun to my head.” The gun to
   the head part of the explanation is technically known
   as “duress” and it allows you to get out of the
   promise because it was not freely made. Does Jonah
   have a duress defense to his promise?





1. What effect does the first part of verse 9 have
   on Jonah’s duress defense? (Jonah says that he
   gives thanks to God for his situation. This
   doesn’t sound like duress to me.)





3. Consider your life. Are all of your decisions about
   good and evil made under duress? (Ever since Adam and
   Eve sinned, we are all destined for death. God
   offers us a way out. That seems like a rescue mission
   to me rather than duress.)





4. The “duress defense” is a claim that you never
   willingly agreed. Will God save anyone who just goes
   through the motions, but does not willingly agree to
   follow Him? (God is willing to reel us back, but
   duress is ultimately not part of the program because
   God only accepts willing obedience. See Luke 10:27-28.)

1. Read Jonah 2:10. Would God have commanded the fish to
   vomit out Jonah if he had not vowed to obey God?





1. If you answered “no,” is this a universal principle
   which applies to our life?





2. Put yourself in God’s place. Why does God choose this
   moment to put Jonah back on dry land? (The rescue has been
   completed, the lesson has been taught, it has apparently
   had the proper effect, and so it is time to release Jonah
   to go on his way.)





3. Again, put yourself in God’s place. Of all of the ways
   that God could have saved Jonah, why choose this one?





1. Could Jonah have ever predicted this method for his
   salvation?





1. No doubt Jonah originally asked himself, “If I
   do not obey God, what will happen to me?” What
   do you think was his answer at the moment he
   decided to run away?





2. Was the fact that the “storm/fish-method” involved no
   human assistance an important factor in God’s
   thinking? (I think this is God’s point. God gave
   Jonah unmistakable evidence that He is behind both
   the problem and the rescue. Jonah cannot credit any
   of this to simple chance or human effort. What are
   the odds of this just happening? God’s name is
   written all over this big adventure.)

1. Read Jonah 3:1. When is the last time that God spoke to
   Jonah? (The beginning of our story: Jonah 1:2)





1. Why do you think God has not spoken to Jonah all this
   time?





2. Why has God used events, rather than words, to
   influence Jonah?





3. I have heard Christians say that they were waiting
   for God to direct them, but He never did. What does
   Jonah’s story teach us about that? (As long as Jonah
   was pulling away from God, God did not speak directly
   to him. God used nature to bring Jonah to his senses.
   When Jonah was ready to be obedient, God spoke to
   him. Consider this from God’s point of view. If Jonah
   is not doing what God told him to do, why speak to
   Jonah again? God already said what needed to be said
   to give direction to Jonah’s life.)





2. Read Jonah 3:2. What assignment did God give to Jonah?
   (The same one as before. God brought Jonah back to the
   same place and said, “Let’s try this again.”)





1. Has God brought you around a second time on
   requirements that you failed before?





2. Have you noticed several opportunities to obey on the
   same issue that troubles you?





3. Do you think that God worked harder on bringing Jonah
   back than he does for the “average guy?”





1. If you say, “no,” does anyone have an excuse for
   missing salvation?

1. Read Jonah 3:3. What is the result of God’s pursuit of His
   prophet? (Jonah finally obeys.)





2. In the early lessons of this study we discussed the
   reasons why Jonah would not want to go to Nineveh. These
   included witnessing to the enemy (when Jonah was a
   patriot), fear of physical harm from the Assyrians, and
   Jonah’s worry ( Jonah 4:2) that God might not do what He
   said. If you were Jonah, how would your storm/fish
   experience alter your views on these potential problems?





1. How is your view of witnessing to the enemy affected?
   (The sailors were pagans, yet they were very
   concerned about Jonah. This might have given him more
   sympathy for non-Jews.)





2. How is your concern about physical harm affected?
   (God has clearly shown Jonah that He is in charge and
   can rescue him from the most serious problems.)





3. How is your concern about God relenting affected? (On
   the one hand, God did not relent in pursuing Jonah.
   On the other hand, God did not kill Jonah. It seems
   that, on balance, since Jonah got a second chance, he
   should be more willing to give the residents of
   Nineveh a second chance.)





1. Do you find that those who have been given
   second chances are more or less tolerant of
   second chances for others?





3. What is your reaction to the fact that God seems to only
   request three days of Jonah’s time for this message? (I
   thought Jonah was being asked to spend months in Nineveh.
   This seems a quick get in, leave the message, and get out
   assignment.)





1. Notice that the amount of time to be spent in Nineveh
   is the same as the amount of time that Jonah spent
   inside the big fish. Would you rather be in the big
   fish or in Nineveh?





1. Are they comparable experiences?





2. Is there a spiritual or practical life lesson
   you can find in this? (What we have is time and
   ability. If we refuse to spend our time
   following God’s will, we will spend our time
   pursuing things that are no more pleasant. It is
   beginning to dawn on me that giving our time to
   God is like giving our tithe. When we give God
   our money and time He stretches the rest so that
   we seem to have more.)





4. Friend, God is pursuing you. Will you “get out of the
   fish” and back into God’s will?

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