Book Recommendation-Can You Run Away From God? by James M. Boice

Subtitled, “If God is sovereign, how can people rebel against Him?”, this is a wonderful 96 page book about the Old Testament prophet Jonah. The book of Jonah is fascinating in the number of lessons we can learn from its four short chapters. Boice looks at God’s sovereignty, but also at God’s mercy and faithfulness. If you haven’t read Jonah before, or if it’s been awhile since you’ve read it, I’d like to encourage you to read it first, and then read Boice’s wonderful book.

Boice starts by defending the historicity of Jonah (He’s mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, and Matt 12:39-40 for starters). Jonah is a true story, about a real person. After establishing this, Boice looks at the themes of God’s sovereignty and His mercy, and at the connection between Jonah and the Great Commission.

He then moves through the book of Jonah showing these things. He looks at how Nineveh experienced a great revival simply after hearing Jonah’s short message, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.” (Jonah 3:4). That’s all we’re told Jonah preached. From here Boice looks at revival, particularly in light of Nineveh’s repentance.

He points out how there is much to learn from Jonah, and how we should come away from his book asking questions such as, “Is God not right? Is He not great for showing mercy?” He ends with an appeal for believers to show others the mercy they’ve been shown by God.

Even if you don’t read Boice’s book, read Jonah, keeping the following in mind: God’s sovereignty and mercy, our obligation to share the word, and our attitude to God and His works. Also consider how Jonah represents God’s people in general, and each one of us specifically.

For those who would like to check out more of James Boice, you can check him out here and here.