Jonah obeys after hearing the word of the Lord a “second time”. We want to be people who obey the Lord the first time. A good impulse, but also a heavy burden. Jonah’s obedience, the second time around, comes not from anxiety but gratitude, an insight given him in prayer. Instead of a burden, the message of Jonah is one of God’s relentless pursuit of each of us (the hound of heaven). The word of the Lord always comes a second time.
