The reality is that there is not an individual living that has not made some bad choices - the wrong relationship, the wrong career, the wrong city - you name it. We each know what it feels like to "come short of the glory of God". We each know what it feels like to hear the voice of God command of us one thing and choose to do the complete opposite. We each know what it feels like to suffer the consequences of choosing not His will but our will. If this is where you are - you are not alone. The reality, however, is that we cannot park in the lot of our past poor choices. What we have to acknowledge is that even in the grasp of guilt and the environment of embarrassment; we are never in a place where God will not give us the opportunity to start over. So, though your present place may be the most undesirable and unwanted; it is an incredible place where God is going to show you mercy. God does that, you know? He provides mercy in some of the most unimaginable and incomprehensible ways: - a woman caught in the act of adultery - a King that is a murderer and an adulterer - a trickster like Jacob - on the backside of a desert to a murderer - a disciple that denied him and left him to die - and even in the belly of a great fish. So accept this invitation to journey through the chapters of a small book in the Old Testament - Jonah. Jonah is not some lonely creature afar offs in the ages somewhere, having an experience that is unique and incommunicable. The experience of Jonah is the experience of every believer. In this book, Pastor Breonus M. Mitchell Sr. empowers and encourages those who know the peril and pain of intentional disobedience to God. Join him on an expository journey through the small prophetic book of Jonah, as he encourages us to experience the mercy of God even in the most demeaning and difficult places. This place in your life is not for your demise. It is just a place in which God provides a detour

A Fish Called Mercy

By Breonus M. Mitchell, Sr.

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Breonus Mitchell
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-2824-3

Contents

Introduction...................................................................1Chapter 1 You've Been Given An Assignment......................................7Chapter 2 The Deception of Disobedience........................................17Chapter 3 God Will Not Take No For Your Answer.................................27Chapter 4 The Scenic Route.....................................................35Chapter 5 Life's Hard Decisions – Learning to Let Go.....................43Chapter 6 A Fish Called Mercy..................................................55Chapter 7 A Place to Pray......................................................65Chapter 8 Another Chance to Get it Right.......................................71Chapter 9 There - By Another Way...............................................79

Chapter One

You've Been Given An Assignment

"The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me."

Jonah 1:1-2

At the time I write this book my seven-year-old son has been so excited through the summer that this year he would enter the second grade. He has been asking me regularly and religiously throughout the summer – "what will I do in second grade?" School has begun and each night we go through the wrestle of restraining him from watching his favorite series of sitcoms and cartoons because he has homework. He has spelling words to learn and math problems to solve. Not withstanding, he has tae-kwon-doe practice and youth group. Every evening he is greeted with the same question – "do you have any homework assignments tonight?" Besides his customary resistance and refusal, he has learned the answer to his inquiry of second grade life. What will I do in second grade? Assignments.

As I write this feeble and fragile commentary on Jonah, I am completing studies. In this online world, each morning I log onto blackboard to retrieve each morning articles, outlines, and notes. Throughout the week there are posts to be made and chapters to be read. My seven-year-old recently asked me as we sat in an ice cream shop – "Dad what is college like?" I replied: "the same as second grade, just much more time consuming – assignments."

Assignments. They are inescapable and unavoidable. We cannot live in this world without some type of assignment. You may call it a responsibility or an appointment; whatever words you choose to define and describe it – it is what it is – an assignment. We have assignments. Take the trash out. Cut the grass. Stick to your diet. Take your medication. Drop the kids off. Study for the exam. We have assignments.

As a husband you have the assignment to be the provider and protector of your home. As a wife you have the assignment to be the nurturer and pillow of support. As a student you have the assignment to finish the program and get the degree. As an employee you have the assignment of carrying out your job description. As a pastor you have the assignment to visit the sick, bury the dead, dedicate the infant, marry the lovebirds, and teach and preach the word of God. We have assignments.

This seems to be the gist of the opening verses of the Jonah narrative. Jonah is given an assignment. It seems like a simple assignment. There is nothing at the surface of this assignment that is unusual. "The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." (Jonah 1:1-2) It is a simple assignment with basically three tasks. Jonah has been given a place to attend. He has been given a people to appeal. He has been given a problem to address. It is a simple assignment.

Jonah has been assigned a place to attend. He is to "Arise, go to Nineveh." Nineveh was located on the East Bank of the Tigris River. It was the last capital of the Assyrian Empire. It is first mentioned in the Bible in Gen 10:11-12. Nimrod, the son of Cush, the son of Ham, Noah's son, established it. There is a better understanding of the social and spiritual state of Nineveh in the Book of Nahum. That entire book is "an oracle concerning Nineveh." Case in point, this is Jonah's place to fulfill God's will. "Arise, go to Nineveh."

Nineveh is a rough place. In Isaiah 66:19 it is said to be "a city that has not heard my fame nor seen my glory" by God. An assignment to Nineveh is definitely not the ideal assignment. It is the rough side of town. It is the habitat of not just the least, the lost, and left out; but, the fast and furious. Recently, I watched a television series entitled Dirty Work. The theme of the show is that it highlights the most dirty and decrepit jobs to be found. Believe me. I would not dare to perform some of the task of these job descriptions. But, this captures the nature of the assignment given to Jonah.

Nineveh is not on the list of the best cities for labor or leisure. It is not Beverly Hills or Hollywood. It is not the big cities of Houston, Dallas, New York, Atlanta, or Los Angeles. It is the most unwelcomed and unwanted place to have been placed. It is the drug-infested neighborhood. It is the Old Testament Las Vegas. It makes the list for crime. The clubs are always open. The church is out of business. The jails are overcrowded. Nineveh.

Like Jonah, God calls us to some places that are not so popular, progressive and profitable. He sends us to mission fields that are devastated by famine and swarming with disease and death. He sends us to pastor congregations that are the seat of the anti-pastor. While your other colleagues are preaching to hundreds and living by well-to-do means; you, on the other hand, have been sentenced to a church where the faithful few are happy remaining exactly that and the possibility of a fulltime pastorate is completely out of the picture. He sends us to communities ran shacked by gang violence and sweltering with children who have been left to defend for themselves. He sends us to places of employment that offer a compensation that is humiliating considering the fact you studied four years.

However, this is God's place for you to attend. Let me encourage you by saying that you are not where you are by luck or chance. Where you are is exactly the place where God wants to use you to accomplish something great for the Kingdom. Now the reality is that nobody is anointed to work in every area of ministry or be an expert in every arena of life. But, God has a place notched out for you. In the words of my predecessors – "you may not be able to sing like the angels and you may not be able to preach like Paul." But God has a place that you have been assigned to make a difference. Jonah got Nineveh. What did you get?

Then again, God assigned Jonah to a particular people to appeal to. Jonah is to go into a foreign and adversarial country, Nineveh, the heart and capital of the Assyrian Empire and pronounce God's disgust and disgrace with their behavior. It would be like you and I going to North Korea, Tehran, Iran or Israel and pronounce judgment in the name of Jesus Christ. Jonah has been assigned to pronounce judgment and God's disappointment in the enemy's camp.

God has a sense of humor. He must. The fact that he assigns us to people that are not at our social level or exhibit our standard of...