"School of Hard Knocks" Diploma--Jonah 2: 8-10, Part II

Once you seek wholeness in the Lord, your resolve will be tested.  Along the Monterey Coast in California are the wonderful Monterey cypresses. They grow on the edge of the steep coastal cliffs, and instead of tall and erect like their fellow inland cypresses, they are bent away from the ocean, due to the high winds that pummel the coast.  Their very character has been shaped by the winds, and although they bend to the winds, they do not break. 

Jonah’s character has been shaped by his experience.  The winds will come. The Lord calls him a second time to go to Nineveh and preach His word.  But he won’t be afraid this time.  He has seen the mightiness of the Lord and has experienced His discipline.

Wait! His discipline?  How can that be beneficial?  It’s painful!  Look at James’ take on discipline: 

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, Who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.  But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. (1:1-8) 

Perseverance is hanging in there through the tough times and it will grow your character.  What is this growth going to produce?  It produces maturity and completeness.  God’s discipline is to produce maturity and completeness in your character, so you can face life with confidence, not in yourself, but in Him alone. 

Teenagers are so challenging because they think they know enough to live life without any more guidance from their parents.  Their lack of wisdom, largely due to a lack of experience, and sometimes an unwillingness to learn from their mistakes, leads to the opposite of what parents want for their children: maturity. 

A mature attitude is truly wonderful.  It saves a person much heartache, for the decisions reached and acted on produce positive results, and keeps the person from negative consequences.

I once heard a high school girl tell her classmates about a night that forever changed her life.  She and some friends were drinking, and they decided to drive over to another friend’s house.  She was the driver, and was having trouble seeing the road, due to all the dust that was being kicked up by the cars in front of her. Her friend offered to drive, and although this girl hesitated, she finally said yes.

A few miles up the road, the new driver didn’t see the turn, and the truck flipped over and crashed, ejecting the driver from the vehicle and killing her.  I admired this young woman’s courage to share her story in front of her classmates, telling of a fateful decision. 

I looked around the room and wondered: How many of these students are actually taking her message to heart?  A few moments earlier I heard a few young men talk boastfully about their drinking exploits.  Did they really hear her?  Or did they assume that they would not make that mistake because they could handle their booze?

Wisdom comes from a humble heart, and if God has to discipline us to achieve that humility, you bet He will, for the consequences from arrogance can be deadly. 

Finally, let’s look at the Bible’s words on discipline, so that we understand God’s motives for His chastening hand on our lives.  Psalm 71:19-21 says,

Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,
     you who have done great things.
Who is like you, God?
Though you have made me see troubles,
     many and bitter,
     you will restore my life again;
      from the depths of the earth
     you will again bring me up.
You will increase my honor
     and comfort me once more.

Do you hear what psalmist is saying?  It is because of God’s character, His love and His goodness, that he knows that he is not suffering at the hands of an evil tyrant.  God will lift him up in due time.  Salvation is on the way. 

David asks pleadingly of God in Psalm 6:1-4,  

O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger
     or discipline me in Your wrath.
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am faint.
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in anguish.
How long, O Lord, how long?
Turn, O Lord, and deliver me;

     save me because of Your unfailing love.

David knows he can ask for mercy and deliverance and he will be heard.  Why? God’s character is an utterly righteous character.      

Satan always tries to assassinate God’s character when we go through suffering.  Satan insinuates God doesn’t love you anymore, you’re past His forgiveness, and He doesn’t care. The satanic list of accusations is endless.  Remember:  it’s hard to argue with Satan.  He’s been around a long time, and he is an expert in the art of deceitful persuasion. 

So, go to the Psalms when you go through trials.  David and his fellow writers plead to God in their hurt and in their anger.  They always, however, reaffirm His character.  They make their appeals based on Who He is.  

In other words, you wouldn’t plead with someone who you know is incapable of mercy or love.  We plead to Him because He cares.  Period. 

David affirms in Psalm 25:8-12, 

Good and upright is the Lord;
     therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
     and teaches them his way.
All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
     toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
For the sake of your name, Lord,
     forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?
He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.

I love how David puts it in verse 15:  “My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare.”  Bingo!  Not clinging to his fear, David keeps his focus on his Deliverer, even though the going gets rough.  

The writer of Hebrews echoes this as well: 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? (12:1-7) 

The writer of Hebrews then goes on to say that God disciplines us:

[F]or our good that we might share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (12:10-11)

When we’re vomited up on the beach, we now carry a badge of honor. We have been disciplined by our loving God.

God is looking to our future and the fruit we have yet to produce.

Our fear keeps us bound to the past and what we have miserably produced.

His eyes are on our future. His eyes are on what we will be. 

What is our part in all of this? We need to humbly seek His wisdom. Once we’ve know what He wants us to do, we need to be obedient and do it.

Don’t sit on the sand.  Pick the seaweed out of your hair.  Rise up and move forward.  

Nineveh awaits.  

Grab your diploma from the School of Hard Knocks on the way out!  You’ve earned it.