We are going to study today about how God is the God of second chances. He is a God who is committed to His people and reaches out to them with His love. God has given Jonah another shot at delivering His message, and so it is a fresh start for our previously wayward prophet, as well as the people of Nineveh. As you begin in prayer today, praise the Lord that God truly is the “God of second chances.”
The book of Jonah, written primarily in the third person, does not explicitly name the prophet as the author of his own account, but we have no reason to doubt either the inspiration or the historical veracity of the book. Identified in verse 1 as the son of Amittai, Jonah came from a town called Gath-hepher, near Nazareth in the area that later came to be known as Galilee (2 Kings 14:25). This makes Jonah one of the few prophets who hailed from the northern kingdom of Israel.
As you open Jonah Chapter 2 begin thinking about these questions: Have you ever overlooked a provision because it did not appear as you thought it would? Do you ever compare your provision with what God provided for someone else? How can affliction often turn you quickly toward the Lord? Finally, do you believe that there is any place you can go that God cannot hear your prayers?
Identity is a set of attributes, qualities, and values that define how we view ourselves and how we think perhaps other people see us. Our identity is often formed by our childhood experiences, our achievements, our possessions, or our abilities. How we view ourselves plays a big part in the way we live and what we do with our lives.