Initially, Jonah refused to do what he knew to be the will of God. Has that not been true of all of us? But God brought Jonah to his senses and delivered him! If people would only accept the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation, how soon they would experience deliverance from bitter lives.

Jonah finally remembered the Lord and “prayed unto Jehovah his God out of the fish’s belly … [and God] brought up [his] life from the pit” (2:1, 6). After Jonah confessed his sin and trusted God, God “commanded the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land” (v. 10).

God, in His grace, often gives us a second, third, and even more chances to obey Him. This time, Jonah did not question God but “arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah” (3:3). There he proclaimed his solemn message through the streets of Nineveh; it was heard with all due gravity, and “the men of Nineveh believed God” (v. 5). What a miracle! So many brought low by one man’s preaching!

We are of the most use to God when we are where He wants us to be, doing what He wants us to do. He knows where and when we should serve—be it in office, factory, school, home, or wherever. If it is His will for us that we be there, then that is where we need to be in order to be spiritually useful. God wanted Jonah to be in Nineveh. Where does He want you? Even when we are in the right place at the right time, we need the guidance of the Spirit constantly as to what we should say or do. We may know this truth, but it is essential that we put it into practice!