A lesson of obedience from Noah and Jonah.

‘May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers.’ 

1st Kings 8:57

  Have you ever obeyed and did something even though it was hard? Noah did. He built an ark for 100 years trusting that God would flood the earth. Honestly, if we were told something would happen and spent 100 years preparing for it we would probably not believe it would happen, (or not be alive anymore.) Have you ever tried to run from God? Many people,including Jonah, think they can but it’s impossible. 

Jonah and Noah had many similarities, such as them both being known for their water stories, they were warned by God of destruction and great stories! They do have many differences like how Noah obeyed right away and how Jonah didn’t, the way they trusted God, Jonah was to save one city from destruction while Noah had to save his family from the earth being destroyed. 

     You’ve probably hear the story of Jonah being swallowed by a giant fish, and Noah being on the ark during the flood with a lot of animals, but if you don’t know about these events well enough here is a little back story…

  Jonah lived near Nathereth. God came to him and told him to save the people in Nineveh because they were doing awful wicked things. Jonah was scared and disobedient and tried run away from this task. He was on a ship going the opposite direction of Nineveh. During this time there was a sea storm. The other people on the ship threw Jonah off because they thought the storm would end if he was thrown off. They threw Jonah off and Jonah was swallowed by a big fish. Jonah was in the fish for three days. After these three days he was spit out and went to Nineveh. Nineveh was saved! Jonah still had an ungrateful heart but he ended up obeying.

Noah’s story started when God told him that he was going to flood the Earth because the Earth was doing wicked things. It took Noah 100 years to build the ark. After these 100 years every single animal went two by two onto the ark. Noah, and his family, was on the ark for 40 days. He sent out several birds to see if there’s any dry areas of land. He sent out a dove and the dove came back with a branch after this time the ark stopped on a mountain. God sent a rainbow promising to never flood the earth again. Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives were the only people on earth at this time.

I hope that’s helped you understand these profiles if you didn’t know about them. I’ll now explain to you the difference between Noah and Jonah.

 Noah and Jonah were very different how they trusted God. Noah was righteous, and believed God‘s word. While Jonah, on the other hand tried to run from God, because he was scared and did not want to obey. They did both obey at the end thankfully, even though Noah listened quicker and more obediently than Jonah.

Although Jonah ended up obeying he did have an ungrateful heart that he had to do what God told him to do. He was so ungrateful that he prayed that he would die. A giant worm came up and tried to eat him when it ended up eating a plant. Jonah should have been more grateful that the fish didn’t digest him fully and that the fish spat him out! This goes to show that their hearts are very different. Everyone is different, looks, interests, family’s, etc. but our hearts should be obedient to the Lord, and grateful when the Lord saves us out of danger. 

The Lord always does something for his glory and for a reason. God chose them for their certain tasks for a reason. He chose Noah because Noah was faithful, righteous and loved the Lord. He wasn’t doing evil like the rest of the world was. We should be different from the world if we are believers. If it’s hard to not do what your friends are getting together and doing this weekend without you, well imagine the entire world against you for not being wicked. This shows that we should be obedient to God and not follow the world but follow Christ. 

These two Biblical events teaches us to trust in the Lord with all our heart, obey him, and not follow the world but follow God. We might not be swallowed by a big fish and nearly by a worm if we don’t, but if Christ died for us, the least we could do is obey and trust him.

-Bryar Engelhardt 

Fun facts!

-Jonah means ‘dove.’ And what animal did God send out of the ark? A dove!

-Both of these stories had to do with water and boats. 

-Jonah was buried in the fish for 3 days like how Christ was buried for 3 days.

-the number 40 symbolized Gods purpose. Noah was on the ark for 40 days and nights while Jesus fasted, and remained on earth for 40 days after he resurrected.