23-0903: God calls people for His glory and pursues us in our rebellion to save us by His relentless grace. Jonah is an interesting story with a maximum amount of drama compressed into only a few shorts chapters. Like watching a father and his son, Jonah shows us how big, how REALLY big, God’s grace is. God calls Jonah to go preach to Nineveh, but Jonah runs. Three times in the first chapter we are told he was fleeing the presence of the Lord. We will not know his motive until the end of the book, but his intentions are clear from the beginning; Jonah was running in rebellion. How does God respond? In the face of Jonah’s rebellion, God does not flinch nor hesitate, but pursues Jonah. And by the end of the first chapter he makes a way for Jonah to return and obey. Jonah 1 teaches us in a big way; rebellion is always futile and ruinous, but God’s relentless grace is always pursuing and near. We pray this message helps and encourages.