Where the Co-op is being built in Aberdour there used to be a Fish Shop – in these few weeks we will see some tiles from the walls of the shop – and seeing how fish are important in the Bible.
Another well known stories in the bible regarding fish is the story of Jonah. We think of is as Johnah and the Whale but a the bible only refers to a huge fish – Jonah 1:17.
God asked Jonah to go to Ninevah, but he didn’t want to go as the people were evil, so he set out in in a ship in the opposite direction. There was a great storm and a huge fish brought him back to where he started. Jonah then did go the Ninevah.
This is a well known children’s story and in popular culture ‘a Jonah’ brings bad luck. There are several things we can learn from this story.
- God is in control over His creation.
- God loves everybody – even the evil people of this world. He is a God of love and mercy who would rather forgive than punish.
- Jonah ran away from God, but God loved him, looked after him and gave him a second chance.
The book of Jonah is one of the shortest is the bible, it is full of excitement and will only take a few minutes to read – Jonah 1 (Jonah flees from the Lord), Jonah 2 (Jonah prays to God), Jonah 3 (Jonah goes to Ninevah) & Jonah 4 (Jonah’s anger at Gods compassion). What do you learn from it?