Contemplations on the Book of Jonah, by Pope Shenouda III

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

All God's Dispositions Are Successful



Everything was dark. All needed repentance and guidance. God started to work with each one and for the sake of all. And He succeeded in all His dispositions: with the mariners, with the Ninevites and with Jonah. He led them all to repentance and to His knowledge. He worked with each of them in the way that suited them. The Book of Jonah is a story of the success of God's work.
This of course assures us.
We trust that God desires and is able to lead us to repentance like all of these. When Jonah depended on himself in disposing for his own problems and when he depended on his mind and his own will he failed completely. But when he resigned to God's hand, God was able to perform a deed by him and it was successful.
May we take from this story a lesson to live the life of surrender and obedience.