Lessons Learned from Jonah: Meditations on God’s Restoring Grace

By Robert Snitko and Dan Jacobsen

We live in a performance-driven world--a world that measures our status through results and accomplishments. The reality is that we shift this kind of thinking on God. We create a performance-driven God and fool ourselves into thinking that God's expectations must be achieved, or we are doomed. But the truth is that God is not a God who expects performance. Rather, He is a God of grace. He understands that we will fail, and that is why He redeems us in Christ.

In Lessons Learned from Jonah, Robert Snitko examines the grace that God offers to Jonah, regardless of his constant failure. The book of Jonah is filled with the exact imprint of who we are as fallen human beings, along with our sinful tendencies to run away from God in the moments when He calls us to obedience. Yet God, in His sovereignty, is seeking redemption and restoration with His people through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Join the journey of experiencing God's grace in this devotional through the narrative of Jonah.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Aug 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532633485

Robert Snitko

Robert Snitko serves as lead pastor at Faith Fellowship in Marshfield, Wisconsin. He holds a DMIN degree in spiritual formation. Robert has authored several books, including A Love We Don’t Deserve: Finding Freedom in God’s Grace. He has also published in multiple academic journals such as The McMaster Journal for Theology and Ministry and Eleutheria. Robert lives in central Wisconsin with his wife, Maggie, and their three children.

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Lessons Learned from Jonah

Meditations on God’s Restoring Grace

Robert Snitko

Foreword by Dan Jacobsen

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Lessons Learned from Jonah

Meditations on God’s Restoring Grace

Copyright © 2017 Robert Snitko. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Resource Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-3347-8

hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-3349-2

ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-3348-5

Manufactured in the U.S.A. January 15, 2018

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Italics in Scripture quotations have been added by the author for emphasis.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1: Jonah Chapter One

Stop Running, Listen

In the Midst of Storms

Identity

Our Need for God

A Life without Godliness Is a Life of Tragedy

God’s Sovereign Provision

Part 2: Jonah Chapter Two

In My Distress

The Power of Lament

Worship

Part 3: Jonah Chapter Three

Second Chances

Absolute Obedience

Responding to God

A Faithful God

Part 4: Jonah Chapter Four

Righteous Anger

Loving Father

Desire to Give Up

God’s Care for His People

Conclusion

Small Group Study Questions

For Mags.

Thank you for your persistent,

Christ-like love towards me.

Foreword

The devotional you hold in your hands is rather unique. For starters, it has a unique author. The first time I met Rob was when he walked into my office as a summer intern after his first year in college. It didn’t take long for me to be impressed by two things—his love of Jesus and his impressive work ethic. Rob’s story and life have been marked by a radical love for Jesus in ways that can only be attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit in him. All the more, in an age where acceptable study methods consist of typing questions into Google, Rob has committed himself to hard work of deep, thoughtful, and labor intensive study of Scripture without shortcuts. That you will find yourself in these lessons is proof of Rob’s ability to understand and communicate well.

I also appreciate this devotional for its unique perspective. Studies in the Minor Prophets have a tendency toward moralism and allegorization. You won’t find that here. With a Spurgeon-esque approach of taking the text straight to the cross, the points of the text are allowed to become pointers to Christ. Why more devotions don’t take this approach is a mystery. After all, this is the approach Jesus himself takes in Matthew’s gospel, as he reinterprets the Jonah prophecy to be ultimately understood through the lens of his own life, death, and resurrection (Matthew 12:38–42). This approach makes these lessons invaluable to the new Christian as well as the seasoned saint.

The combination of a unique author with a unique perspective ultimately yields a work with a unique goal: transformation. These lessons are not designed to leave us where we started. In wrestling with the immediate story of Jonah and the wider story of Redemption, we are forced to consider those areas of our lives that need refinement and progress.

As you read these lessons, I’m sure you will, like me, admire Rob’s pastoral heart, helpful guidance, and ability to demystify the story in a way that speaks to our real lives today.

Dan Jacobsen

Campus Pastor

Bethel Church

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my incredible wife, Mags, for constantly encouraging me