Scripture: Jonah 3:3-4
So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
Thought for the Day: Bill Moyer wrote, “Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” The author of Jonah understood this basic idea. The author used the mundane as the backdrop, splashed some creativity upon the canvas, and then for those who were paying attention, something marvelous became visible. The above two verses may sound a bit boring, but notice how the story tells us that Nineveh was a three day walk across, yet Jonah only walked one day. It may not be some earth-shattering point, but it is an incredibly creative way of communicating something about Jonah. If you are asked to do a job, and you only do a third of it, what does that say about you? What does it say about Jonah? I don’t know if that quite reaches Moyer’s definition of marvelous, but it reminds us of just how creative many of the Biblical writers were. And if we are paying attention, we might find some pretty marvelous insights.
Prayer: Help me, God, to see the complexity and beauty woven into the scriptures. Help me to see them and to understand what is being communicated. Amen.
