Jonah: Responding to God in all the Right Ways

If you feel God may be calling you to do something great then read this book and learn from the life of Jonah. Through Jonah I discovered how God uses ancient stories to touch my life today. Overcoming fear is a key aspect of Jonah's life and helpful support in the difficult times we face today. I learned that the story of Jonah isn't so much about Jonah but it's about God. Seeing God at work through the ages is awesome. Seeing God use measly people is truly amazing. A great reference tool for pastors but also a great read for everyone.

I was impressed with Mr. Seed's take on the Jonah story. Most everyone knows the story (it was my favorite as a kid) but it's not often well explained or made relevant, except maybe to give weak warnings that Jonah's an example of what "not" to do. But Mr. Seed makes Jonah's story very relevant, but doesn't insult Jonah or his story's inclusion in the Bible. I came to understand that Jonah's perspective is actually very common (especially in this age), and the book allows the reader to walk through obedience and worship while experiencing God's grace for our best (but not always perfect) attempts. If you loved the story of Jonah as a kid like I did, I highly recommend this deeper study of it.

In this short little book Hal has accomplished a number of things. First of all, he explains the book of Jonah remarkably well. Hardly one of the daily readings goes by without a theological insight that is difficult to catch with a simple reading of the text. I finished each chapter understanding the book of Jonah far better than I did when I started. Second, he does as excellent job of making the book of Jonah practical. He addresses common issues that bring many of us down from frustration with God, to anger, to feelings of failure, to our inability to ask good questions. Additionally, he takes opportunities to provide instruction on important spiritual disciplines (I found his section on scripture memory to be especially helpful). While much of the text provides interesting food for thought, it is clear that Hal isn't willing to allow the book to simply be that. He ends each day's reading with a challenge to respond in some way (often a particular way) to the greatness and grace of God that the book of Jonah shows us. Rather than simply being a theological treatise, this is a book that challenges us to live better, and I appreciated that challenge. Third, just as Hal says that the book of Jonah is about God, so too this book isn't about Jonah, or a about a Sunday school Bible story. It is quite clearly about a great and gracious God. Through the pages of this book I found myself impressed again at who God is and how he interacts with his people. The book is divided up into 20 daily readings, and has excellent discussion questions at the end. New Christians and mature believers alike will benefit from the encouraging, challenging, heart warming teaching this book provides. I especially recommend it for small group study, as it is set up to work well in a small group environment.

Jonah: Responding to God in all the Right Ways by Hal Seed really cleared up ALOT of misconceptions about this very short book of the bible. Besides learning that there is NO WHALE in the book of Jonah, the detailed background into the socio-ecomomic issues of that time period helped explain why Jonah ran away and why he so stubbornly refused to obey God and why he remained angry even after obeying.

Jonah offers great insight and application in a very authentic format. It allows the reader to see into the life of Jonah, his experiences, and his lessons, while creating a dialogue about how those lessons intersect our lives. The short chapter, daily reading makes it easy to digest. This is a definite must read.