HCC Weekly - June 9th, 2025

Journey to Nineveh

Pastor Rachael

This week is VBS! I spent a lot of time praying and deliberating over what we were going to learn about during VBS. I was led to the story of Jonah. The story of Jonah is one of disobedience, repentance, and redemption. Today, I would like to dive a bit deeper into each of these points.

1.Disobedience

“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed to Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Jonah 1:1-3

God called Jonah to do a big thing, and instead of doing it, Jonah did the opposite. He fled in the complete opposite direction! (here is a link to a map that will show you where Jonah went - https://images.app.goo.gl/ChM6Q7ynQaRD2MD59 )

As punishment for Jonah’s disobedience, God sent a huge storm to rock the boat. The men were scared, but Jonah was not, he was sleeping. When the storm got even worse, Jonah told the men on the ship to throw him into the sea. When they did, the storm calmed. We can never run away from God.

2.Repentance

Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God…” Jonah 1:17-2:1

Hopefully, none of us will be swallowed by a giant fish in our lifetimes, but, like Jonah, we all will experience difficulties in life. John 16:33 says, “Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Each of us responds to difficult situations differently, but Jonah responded in prayer (you can read his prayer in Jonah 2. Jonah shows us that the best thing to do in a difficult situation is to pray. When Jonah was done with his prayer, and asked for forgiveness, God granted it and the fish vomited him up on dry land.

3.Redemption

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction that he had promised. Jonah 3:10

The Ninevites were terrible, brutal, sinful people. They were part of the Assyria Empire (which is now known as Iraq) and they were known for doing terrible things to the people they conquered, they even were known to kill children. No wonder Jonah didn’t want to go there!

After spending three days in the belly of a fish, Jonah finally decided to obey the Lord. He went to Nineveh and told the people about their coming destruction and an amazing thing happened in the hearts of the people; they repented and believed.

Despite Jonah’s selfishness and inability to accept God’s mercy toward the Ninevites, the story of Jonah can still teach us three important things: We can never run away from the Lord, when we pray and ask for forgiveness God will grant it to us, and everyone deserves God’s great mercy.

Have a blessed Monday!

If you still need to sign your child up for VBS, you can do so at hewittcc.org