Jonah tells the story of the prophet who ran from obedience to God. There are many lessons here to help us understand how God does His work through man and how He deals with His servants when they rebel against Him.
God never promised to remove all trials or to give us heaven on earth. However, He has promised that the man who separates himself from the world and gives himself over to the Lord will be blessed.
The distance between man and God is great. This is partly based on the greatness of God, but the distance is magnified even more by the lowliness of man.
The Lord wanted Jeremiah to see the work of the potter with the clay, for if he understood this, he would understand much of the work of the Lord with His people.
The first two chapters of Esther gave the background of the story of Esther. Chapter three reveals the true conflict of this Bible story. Haman is established as the chief of the princes of the Persian Empire. Then Haman, in his hatred of Mordecai, lashes out at the entire Jewish race within the realm of the great Persian Empire. They are to be completely destroyed.