Devotion 6: God of Grace

Stephen Billings

One of my favorite parts of life is playing games with my children. My wife and I are blessed to have an eight-month-old baby girl, along with two sons who are two and three years old. When it comes to playtime, my kids are obsessed with “Paw Patrol.” They love it! My kids have “Paw Patrol” trucks and figurines which they spend many hours playing with. However, when one of them makes a wrong choice and tries to take a “Paw Patrol” toy from one of their siblings, playtime becomes an opportunity for them to learn to forgive and show grace to one another.

In the book of Jonah, God gives Jonah clear direction to go to the city of Nineveh and preach. However, Jonah makes a poor decision and chooses to disobey God. Jonah chooses to flee “from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:10). Even though Jonah feared God, he did not want to go to Nineveh, so he tried to run from God.

Despite Jonah’s actions, God chooses to respond to Jonah with grace. “And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17). God sent a big fish to swallow Jonah not as a form of punishment, but as a form of grace.

Just as playtime for my kids can turn into an opportunity for grace and forgiveness to be given, the same is true in our everyday lives. God gives us all sorts of opportunities to obey or disobey Him. We, like Jonah, can try to run away from the presence of God or step forward in obedience to Him.

I pray that each and every day we ask for God’s strength to be obedient to Him and His commands. However, when we do fail in our pursuit of following God, we know that God is a God of grace and forgiveness. God showed grace to Jonah and will do the same for us. Hebrews 13:8 shares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”