Jonah: God's Relentless GraceSample

God who forgives 

God forgives Jonah because of His grace. The Lord hears Jonah’s cry and saves him from the depths. God’s grace is something we don’t deserve and cannot earn. We deserve judgment and death as payment for our sin. 

God’s forgiveness and grace is available to all. There is no one who does not need God’s grace or so bad that they can’t find God’s grace. 

Jonah realized that in order to access God’s grace, he has to give up his own idols. An idol is something that blocks the grace of God in your life. It is something that comes between you and God. Idols are not necessarily bad things. Even a good thing like family, reputation, comfort, approval, success and so on can become an idol when it becomes your ultimate thing in life. We all have heart idols that exist as functional gods. These are gods we look up to for comfort, satisfaction, honor, security and reputation. Unless we recognize our heart idols, we will forfeit the grace that can be ours (v.8). 

When I forfeit God’s grace, then I am left with my own efforts to earn God’s forgiveness and that is never enough. When I cling to my heart idols, I forfeit God’s love, power, assurance, acceptance, joy and righteousness, which is a result of His grace. This is a scary thing. 

Jonah looks to the temple to seek mercy from God. In Romans 3:25 and 1 John 2:2, Jesus’s precious blood was poured on the mercy seat for our sins. Jesus covers us with His righteousness, His perfect life and His sacrificial death. This is how we experience God’s grace and forgiveness.