Another Second Chance: Jonah 4:5-11

Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:5-11)

Now Jonah heads east. If he really believed his words about God’s character, he would have stayed put. Sometimes we say all the right things, and yet when our heart is alienated, we act on our feelings, not what we know to be true. Jonah is removing himself from God’s presence.

He questioned God.

He defied God.

He glorified God. Now?

He avoids God. What happened, Jonah?

He goes outside the city, and makes a shelter and “waited to see what would happen to the city.” (4:5) What is he expecting? How has God’s revelation about sparing the city changed? Jonah is now without direction, and so he sits and waits. God told him that He was going to be merciful, and yet Jonah is acting as if God is going to destroy the city anyway.

Why do we think time will change God’s words to us? If He has spoken, we need to listen and obey, and not assume God is some kind of wishy-washy Father who will change His mind at some point.

God’s unchanging character is a relief when we are looking for a steadfast love and refuge; but when we are sinning, we hope that God will relent, and not take His words so seriously. But, remember, “Jesus is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.” (Heb. 13:8)

Jonah’s feelings about Nineveh may have a much deeper root in his heart than his knowledge of God’s love. Our fears can sometimes trump the newer truths God is planting in our hearts. Jonah’s prayer inside the whale was sincere (no one can manufacture such heart-felt praise) but now that he’s out, he has fallen back into anger and fear because of God’s acceptance of Israel’s enemy. If Nineveh gets nailed, Jonah need not explore God’s mercy and grace any further.

In Revelation 2:2-5, the church in Ephesus hears this exhortation:

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

This could be a description of our Jonah. He detests wickedness in Nineveh, but he has forgotten his first love: the very Lord he was called to serve. He persevered and emerged from the whale, but he has forgotten his first Love. He is a man called of God, a noble thing to be sure, but he has forgotten his first Love.

Yet, even so, the Lord reaches out again to His error-prone prophet. The shelter Jonah builds is inadequate against the hot sun, so the Lord provides a vine to give Jonah shade.

Whenever we seek to build ourselves a shelter, it is always inadequate. We think we are fine until the hot sun of loneliness, fear, anger or isolation starts beating down on our heads. In fact, the reason for the vine was to “give shade for his head to ease his discomfort.” (4:6)

Jonah is happy about the vine, of course, but where is the song of thanksgiving? Where is the hearty “Thank You, Lord!” for it? He’s just sitting there. He’s alone, but a lot cooler now that the vine has sprung up. Perhaps life isn’t so bad, is it?

Is it?

But God is never content to leave us just as we are. He loves us way too much to leave us sitting out there by ourselves, thinking we’ve got it handled. Did it even occur to Jonah that God sends the vine for his comfort? Or, because his heart is cold, does he just look at it? Is he content not to question its appearance?

Then the Lord sends a worm. It nibbles away at the vine until the vine withers. Even if we are afraid and have good reason to be upset, we are still admonished that in our “anger do not sin.” We are not to “let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Eph. 4:26-7)

The sun went down on Jonah’s anger. The Lord was waiting for some kind of thankful response to the vine, showing a softening of Jonah’s heart.

The next day, the wind blows blisteringly hot. This wind is sent not to cool Jonah down after the vine withers, but to get Jonah’s attention. Does Jonah seek the Lord? No. He just wants to die.

How sad. Our life, the most precious gift of all, has no meaning when it is not tethered to God. We lose our purpose and our direction. Sitting out in that desert, Jonah is free to do as he will, but he has no meaning or purpose. The hot wind distresses him not just physically. He’s withering on the inside as well, to the point of wanting to die. He encountered death in the belly of the whale, and when he emerged victorious, how sweet life was!

But now, in the heat of the sun, he wants to die. He displaces his anger onto the vine: 

But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die.” (4:9)

It’s the vine’s fault! How often, in our fear, we seek to blame others for our anger? We resent what has been done to us. The fear that results causes us to stop trying. We crawl under a withered vine, angry and alone. We sit under the sun of resentment for what might have been.

Our fear changes us into someone ugly. We are ugly to others and to ourselves. Jonah is having an ugly moment, blaming the vine and probably if the truth were told, blaming God.

Is he thinking, God failed to punish Israel’s enemy. Israel’s safety is compromised and if anything happens, it will be God’s fault, not mine!

See how blinded Jonah is? He is once again focused on himself, even though we know (just as God does!) that he is quite capable of being obedient. God sees our potential. He still sees Jonah’s, as he sits way out there in the desert.

God knows Jonah’s immediate need, which is shade from a hot sun. God also knows Jonah’s deeper need, which is replacing his fear with an even stronger faith centered on who God is, and not just on what He does. God then lovingly but firmly corrects His prophet:

The vine suited Jonah, for it met his needs, caused no fear and made him the center of his world. He didn’t have to do anything. He just stayed put.

But God wants so much more for us than just staying put. Jonah would have stayed out in the desert for a long time with that cooling vine. We would stay out in the desert, too, for a long time with our fear and anger at how unfair life is. It’s a kind of weird comfort to stay put, seeking no change. Moving out of the desert is hard work. But, if God sends, He defends.

Life is unfair. But there are worms everywhere, nibbling away at our shelters. God is trying to get our attention, showing us that a vine springing up overnight is just a temporary fix. We like to seek out temporary fixes and assume that they will last. They meet our innermost needs and get us though. So, these fixes are just fine. Right?

Wrong.

God sent a worm to remind Jonah of a fundamental truth. God is deeply concerned about wicked people, irresponsible people, good people, so-so people, righteous people, lonely people and angry people.

In other words, God is reaching out to you, to me, to everyone. He so loved the world that He sent His Son. He doesn’t want anyone to perish, although many will choose not to take hold of His nail-scarred hand. He gives us, without reservation, eternal life. It’s an eternal life with Him, without fear, anger, scorching winds in desert, or darkness in the bellies of whales. He offers an eternal life with Him in a place where there are no tears. It’s ours for the asking.

But He also offers an abundant life to us here.

Moses, speaking on God’s behalf, said to the people, after leading them out of Egypt and giving them the Law to live by:

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deut. 30:19-20)

Jesus said: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

Jonah receives a second chance. Again and again. How does our Jonah respond? The narrative ends with God’s questions to Jonah.

We really don’t know how he responds.

How many more whales, worms and winds have to barge into Jonah’s world until he gets it?

What does he need to get?

What do we need to get?

It is this one truth: God’s love is sufficient for us to overcome our own private Nineveh. Sometimes we pray the same prayer of a father who brought an extremely ill son to Jesus, who wanted to believe that Jesus could heal his son, but he was fearful. Jesus tells the man that “‘Everything is possible for him who believes,’ and then the man says, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23-4)

Jesus also reassures us, as He did His disciples as He was facing His death: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

We follow Jesus. He overcame betrayal, pain and death. He weeps right alongside us when we face our Nineveh. He encourages us each day to trust Him. How will you respond? Your Nineveh may never change, but God calls you out from your rickety, self-made shelter into His care. Paul calmly asserts:

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Cor. 12:9)

The power of Christ in you will affect the change God desires for you. He doesn’t call you to change on your own strength, in your own power. He calls you, fills you, empowers you and sustains you with His Holy Spirit. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples, not long before His crucifixion:

[T]he Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also… (John 14:17-19)

You are never alone. His Spirit in you sees to that.

How Quickly the Mighty Have Fallen: Jonah 4:1-4

But to Jonah this seemed [God's compassion towards the Ninevites] very wrong, and he became angry. 

He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (Jonah 4:1-4)

Wait a minute! We stood on the beach with Jonah and watched him catch his breath after his big adventure! We watched him strive mightily into the very gates of hell (as Nineveh might as well have been) and announce God’s impending judgment unless the people repent! Sure as shooting, the people and the king repent, donning sackcloth and ashes and seeking God’s mercy.

We look for Jonah after such a mighty revival! Where is he?

There he goes, making his way out of the city, head bowed and his mind filling every second with…joy? No.

Relief? No.

Praise to God? No.

Anger? Yes.

What?

Your mission is accomplished, Big Boy! You were delivered from death; you sang a song of salvation without reservation; you then did as God commanded you. It is a brilliant success beyond your wildest dreams. Instead of now requesting time with the king to elaborate on the details of living for God, you are walking out of town, quickly heading for the “Nineveh City Limits” sign as fast as your sandaled feet can carry you.

In the first chapter of Jonah, we really did not hear his reasons for running away from God’s call. Perhaps it wasn’t necessary to get the story started.

But here Jonah now elaborates his reasons in great detail, and we respect his honesty. Funny, even though he can now speak with a great conviction about God’s mercy, he is still angry and afraid. He personally experienced God’s grace and compassion. He saw how God’s anger at his disobedience transformed into love and deliverance. The Lord provided a fish and he stayed there until he saw the error of his ways. He realizes the mightiness of God in saving his life.

But now the thought that Israel’s mighty and merciless neighbor, Assyria, might actually come into the fold of God’s favor, shuts Jonah down.[1] He overcame his fear by walking into Nineveh, but was he still secretly hoping that the people and their leader would reject his message? Did he want to sit on the sidelines and watch Nineveh go POOF! under God’s avenging hand?

Jonah’s fear is still clouding and distorting his judgment. If God is powerful, mighty, loving, and compassionate (as Jonah admits), could anything, including an enemy nation coming into the fold, actually deter God away from His precious Israel?

Let’s look at how Heaven sees repentance. We lose the joy we might otherwise have, when, instead of rejoicing over sinners coming into God’s kingdom, we somehow think that God’s love can be diminished towards us if He is paying attention to others. God’s goal is to bring His wandering children, whoever they are, into His embrace.

Jesus often taught in parables about repentance and how Heaven responds. He talks of a shepherd who leaves his ninety-nine sheep to seek out the one sheep that wandered off, and then calls his friends in to rejoice with him. How does Heaven respond? 

"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:4-7)

Jesus talks of a woman who turns her house upside down to find a lost coin and then calls her friends in to rejoice with her. Heaven’s response? 

“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10)

While Jesus is teaching the people with these parables, they are largely aimed at the Pharisees who are muttering about Jesus associating with what they call “sinners.” These leaders resent that Jesus reaches out to the lowly, the dirty, the uneducated, and the outcasts—the very ones that the leaders look down on with such disdain. The behavior of the unwashed masses disgusts them.

It is not just the people’s behavior that Jesus is seeking to change. He wants changed hearts for all of His listeners, including the religious leaders. With changed hearts, people will seek to please God. But the Pharisees lost sight of the heart-change element. The sinful behavior in others led to an ever-growing self-righteousness in them. Consequently, an ever-growing distance between themselves and the masses developed.

Jesus then goes on in this passage from Luke 15 about a prodigal son. He tells how, after squandering everything by his wild ways, this younger son comes back to his father, sincerely repenting and willing to face his father’s chastisement. The father instead throws him a party.

The interesting part is the reaction of the older son. Although obedient to his father, the older son is disgusted by how much attention the father has lavished on this despicable son. He seems to believe that the father’s love couldn’t be expansive enough to love both sons. The father reminds the older son that all the father has is his and that everyone needs to rejoice over the lost son.

The older son, who has grown cold over time towards his father and hasn’t availed himself to his father’s grace, now feels jealous and angry towards his younger brother. He wouldn’t and couldn’t rejoice in his younger sibling’s change.

If we do not feel God’s grace in our lives, we are far less willing to be gracious with others. We grow jealous of God’s expansive love towards others because we are growing cold in our heart towards God.

The Pharisees, because of their cold hearts, shut out God’s grace. Consequently, they are not willing to extend it to others. They may have wondered why God is paying attention to sinners when He should be watching them as they diligently follow His law.

The mission of the Old Testament prophets was to call the people to repentance and restoration. God calls His own first, the children of Israel, but He also calls out to the nations who don’t know Him.

Why has Jonah lost sight of God’s grace so quickly? Even Jonah admits that God’s love is boundless. What’s going on here?

Jesus tells a parable about a king who wants to settle accounts with his servants. He calls forward a servant who owes him a huge debt. The servant begs the king for mercy. The king cancels the debt, and lets the servant go.  The servant promptly goes and finds one of his fellow servants who owes him a measly amount. The man is angry and starts to choke his fellow servant. He then has him thrown into prison, ignoring the other’s pleas for mercy and patience. The king finds out and is furious.

He says to the first servant:

Then the master called the servant in. "You wicked servant," he said, "I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" (Matt. 18:32-33)

Where’s Jonah in all this? He was disobedient to God by ignoring His call. He is swallowed up by the whale and then is mercifully delivered. He is like the servant whose huge debt is forgiven. Why? Because the servant met personally with the king, and likewise, Jonah has a personal relationship with God. He is one of the Chosen People, a man of the nation of Israel. The other servant in the parable did not meet personally with the king; similarly, the people of Nineveh have not yet received the full revelation of the one true God. So, this intimate contact with God makes Jonah, like the servant who is punished severely at the end of the parable, more accountable, and thus in deeper trouble for his disobedience.

The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel says that God does not take delight in the death of wicked people. He would much rather have them repent and live:  

"But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?" declares the Sovereign Lord. "Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live... (18:21-24)

Jonah has slipped into sinful thinking about how God should not accept the people of Nineveh. They are just too evil! He should destroy them. If He extends mercy to Israel’s enemies (those sinners!) then Jonah would rather die.[2]

Even people who have felt God’s mighty hand of deliverance can slip into such sinful thinking. Why? Because, like the prodigal son’s older brother, they think they are entitled to some kind of special treatment because of how good they have been, compared to others. They see God as having let them down in some way. They then decide to go their own way.

Jonah’s fears are understandable. Your fears are understandable. Don’t allow those fears to pave the way toward sinful reactions. In an odd way, the belly of the whale was a kind of safe place for Jonah. He had no one else to lean on but the Lord Himself. Sometimes in the depths of our suffering, we feel the Lord’s presence in such an intimate way that we are astonished.

Once we find ourselves on shore again, delivered by God’s mighty hand, we forget God’s mercy towards us. We may start remembering the sins of others, the sins against us, and our fear may drive us back into thinking sinful things. Or worse, doing sinful things. We can quickly forget the power of God:

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Heb. 12:14-15 KJV)

Alienation from God, even if we have been wronged, can lead us to shrivel up, and a root of bitterness will grow around our hearts, leaving us vulnerable to sin. How often do we lose sight of God because we are not seeking to live for Him and then, over time, we have a harder and harder time seeing Him?

When we lose sight of God and His grace, we feel estranged from Him. Then if we see someone else basking in the light of His goodness, we grow angry and murmur about how God has blessed that person and He has left us out. Psalm 43:3-5 shows us the right direction of where to put our energy:

Send me your light and your faithful care,
     let them lead me;
     let them bring me to your holy mountain,
     to the place where you dwell.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
     to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
     O God, my God.
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
     for I will yet praise him,
     my Savior and my God.

God encounters us with the same question that He posed to Jonah: “Have you any right to be angry?”

When He extends His hand graciously, and tells you, “Everything I have is yours,” and your heart responds coldly as you walk away from Him, ask yourself this question: If you feel distant from God, guess who moved?






[1] NIV Study Bible, note on Jonah 4:3

[2] NIV Study Bible, note on Jonah 4:3

Score One for the Home Team: Jonah 3:1-10

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. (Jonah 3:1-10) 

Matthew Henry makes a very interesting observation: “An apprehension [understanding] of God’s good-will to us, not withstanding our offenses, gives us boldness of access to him, and opens the lips in prayer that were closed with the sense of guilt and the dread of wrath.” [1]   

That is our Jonah.  He is so grateful for God and His mercy that he boldly sings and praises God inside the whale.  Once he stands on shore, picking seaweed out of his hair, he is filled with sheer joy.  Isaiah 40:27-31 puts this confidence beautifully:

Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
     the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
     and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
     and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
     and young men stumble and fall;
     but those who hope in the Lord
     will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
     they will run and not grow weary,
     they will walk and not be faint. 

It is God’s character, Who He is, that Isaiah is able to be confident in, for He created the universe in all its majesty.  He alone gives strength to His weakened ones. It is also hope.  It is not any hope, floating around out there, but hope in the One Who made the eagles and the wind that they soar upon.  He will lift His children up.  Isaiah reminds God’s people of His immeasurable love for them:

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
     the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
     and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
     I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
     your walls are ever before me.

Isaiah mentions how God has “engraved you on the palms” of His hands.  Have you ever considered that Jesus, in His resurrected body, still bears the scars of His crucifixion?  Why is that? 

Thomas, one of His disciples, could not fathom how Jesus could rise from the dead in the first place.  He demands that “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it.” (John 20:25 )

So, when Jesus appears to His disciples, He specifically says to Thomas (He knows what Thomas said earlier), “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”  Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27-8)

So, when you are welcomed into Heaven, Jesus will reach out and embrace you with those nail-scarred hands. When He looks down at those scars, He thinks of you, and the love that drove Him to die for you.  When you consider those scars, never doubt that God loves you.

Jonah, standing on the beach, with the sun overhead and the wind drying out his hair, can now personally confirm the words of David:  “I am still confident of this:  I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Ps. 27:13-14 NIV) 

Our Jonah is now a walking testimony about the power of the one true God.  He stands there, mighty not because of who he is (fish food, if the truth be told!) but because he is a child of the God.  Period.   

David implores God for deliverance not only for himself (he would certainly rather not perish at the hands of his enemies) but as a testimony to God’s power: 

Lord, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
     that I may declare your praises
     in the gates of Daughter Zion,
     and there rejoice in your salvation. (Ps. 9:13-14)

David knew his enemies were formidable.  But if he prevailed, it would demonstrate the mightiness and matchlessness of his God.  Likewise, Jonah cannot claim he had anything to do with his deliverance.  It was truly a God-thing.  Jonah’s deliverance makes him a walking message.  I am sure that word got around about this man of God whose disobedience caused a storm and then once in the ocean, an enormous fish swallowed him.  Away went the storm.  Ditto for Jonah.

Sailors get around and so do their stories. The sailors went to many ports of call and their story of the man from Israel got told over and over again.  Unlike other fish stories, this fish started out huge! 

Jonah, like David, is going to be a witness to God’s greatness by his very presence and words.  David saw his deliverance as an opportunity to praise God and then tell of His greatness: 

I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
     and call on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
     in the presence of all his people,
     in the courts of the house of the Lord—
     in your midst, Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord.

The method of how Jonah will reach the people of Nineveh was never really hammered out, due to that little detour into the whale’s stomach.  Now we see that “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.” (3:3)

God calls him again.  This time, Jonah listens and obeys. 

Quite a 180-degree turn from the man who couldn’t book a passage on a ship away from Nineveh fast enough.  Quite a difference from the man who was so afraid that he was willing to ignore God. What changed? 

Nineveh hasn’t changed one bit.  It’s still huge, scary and very heathen, with its violent armies and nasty kings.  Jonah’s attitude has changed.  He is no longer afraid.  His reputation precedes him.

I see him walking up to a city gate of Nineveh, looking like a fish out of water (pun intended!) because he’s a Hebrew in a pagan city. He boldly walks in and announces:  “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” (3:4) 

I am sure that the people around him stopped dead in their tracks.  Jonah is standing there, in the hot sun, looking like a man who has stood the test of his character and prevailed.  He repented of his disobedience and God restored him. God is now using him to reveal His truths through Jonah’s mouth and very presence.

It’s funny how God works in and through us.  He seeks our repentance, then our restoration and then He uses us for His revelation. 

Our fear leads us to disobedience.  We ignore God and His hand on our lives. Once we turn from ourselves to His power, we now center ourselves on His strength.  We can solely depend on Him.  We choose to obey Him.  Now we know that His ways lead to life, and our ways lead to darkness.  We are relying on the hope of His mercy and His strength.

Our lives are now a God-thing. 

As Matthew Henry puts it in his commentary, “God’s making use of us is the best evidence of his being at peace with us.”[2] He goes on to observe: 

"Hope of mercy is the great encouragement and reformation; and though there be but some glimmerings of hope mixed with great fears arising from a sense of our own sinfulness, and unworthiness, and long abuse of divine patience, yet they may serve to quicken and engage our serious repentance and reformation.  Let us boldly cast ourselves at the footstool of free grace, resolving that if we should perish, we will perish there; yet who knows but God will look upon us with compassion?" [3] 

He does!  Jonah can testify to that!  Look at Nineveh’s reaction:  “The Ninevites believed God.”  

What makes the people stand up and repent?  Is it the man standing before them?  Is it the power of his voice?  Is it the Power behind his voice?  Is it that big fish story? 

We don’t know, but they put feet to their repentance.  They declare a fast and everyone puts on the visible signs of repentance: sackcloth and ashes.

Then the king hears the news, takes off all of his royal apparel and dons sackcloth and ashes as well.  Whoa.  This is serious.  While Jonah was in the belly of the whale, the Lord wasn’t just working on Jonah’s heart.  He was working on the hearts of the people and the King of Nineveh as well! 

Remember I said that if God sends, He defends?  Part of the defense He is laying out for you is preparing the very path He is calling you to walk.  How does He prepare the path?  He softens the hearts of the listeners.  He allows them to see the situation with a new perspective.  Maybe there is that one person who no longer can stand how thirsty he or she is and you arrive with a cup of water just in time.  If you had come earlier, that person wouldn’t have felt that thirst so acutely and would have refused to listen to you.

Is the repentance of the people and the king sincere?  Perhaps it’s a case of “no atheists in foxholes.” They don’t want to perish, and they are placing their bets on this man from Israel and his God.  I believe in God’s timing: Jonah delivers the message and they repent.  That seems to be the way of Scripture.  How long will the message’s impact stick?  In other words, how long will the people stay repentant and walk in the knowledge of God?  Good question! 

This king knows exactly what he and the people must do:  repent and change their behavior.  These people have a reputation for violence.  Their enemies tremble at the very name of the Assyrians.  I am sure battles weren’t even fought because other kings didn’t want to face the Assyrian army. 

The king is giving up more than words here.  He is giving up his nation’s reputation and its fearful control over the region.  He is also challenging his people to ponder their evil ways.  Jonah is ready to share with them exactly what they need to do to stop acting in a manner abhorrent to God. 

God never just says “Stop being evil!” and then walks away.  In the Old Testament, He sends His prophets to elaborate on exactly what the evil is and how righteousness is to be practiced.  His prophets proclaim God’s holy character, which provides the basis for His laws. 

God’s holy laws are an extension of Himself.  Do not lie, for God does not lie, for only truth and justice fall from His lips. 

Do not murder, for God does not engage in murder.  Life is sacred, for God breathed into the very nostrils of Adam His own holy breath, and mankind bears His image. 

Do not commit adultery, for God is ever faithful to His people.    

Honor your parents, for honor undergirds respect.  We are to respect our ultimate Parent, our Heavenly Father. [4]    

In teaching the people about the righteous ways of God, the prophets teach them about His very nature.  God’s behavior is not distinct from His character. He truly practices what He preaches, and preaches what He practices.  This prophet, Jonah, will bear witness to this.  The king is seeking now to imitate the nature of the God of Israel by practicing His ways. The king seems to understand the connection between God’s justice and His mercy:  “God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” (3:9) 

The king is carefully listening to Jonah’s teaching about God.  Now, looking within, the king thinks:  If I want my people to cease from their bad ways, I warn them first.  I then wait to see what they will do.  If they continue in their disobedience, I pronounce judgment upon them and punish them.  If I see change, then I stay my mighty hand, and honor my word to be merciful. Thus, I will presume that this God of Jonah will behave in a similar manner.  He will warn us and wait for our response.  Good call, king.

God, acting as the Mighty King, does just that:  He sees their repentance, how “they turned from their evil ways” and His compassionate Hand stretches forth.  Destruction is averted. 

But, wait!  This just in:

And now, ladies and gentlemen, back down on the field at the Nineveh Bowl!  As a cheer goes up from the crowd, we celebrate the score for our Home Team!  Go Nineveh!  Everyone is patting each other on the back and shouting, “Good job!”

But wait, what is this?  I see a man leaving the stadium.  Just a minute!  Hey, let’s get a close-up. Who is that?  Wait!  It’s that man from Israel!  The Mighty Fish Boy! Is he walking out of the arena to buy some fish and chips?  No!  He appears to be stomping out of the stadium! He looks furious!  What is going on?   All right, back to you up in the stands…

---

[1] Henry, p. 1179

[2] Henry, p. 1179.

[3] Henry, p. 1179.

[4]  Del Tackett, The Truth Project, (Colorado Springs, Col: Focus on the Family, 2008), http://www.thetruthproject.org.

"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. 

A Little (Easter) Bunny Trail with Jonah and Jesus

When we read Jonah, we see how God wants to restore this sin-soaked planet. He calls His reluctant prophet, who is justifiably horrified at the people he's supposed to go and share the love of Yahweh with: the Ninevites.  Jonah is just fine with God working in and through His chosen ones, but THOSE PEOPLE?  C'mon, Lord, they are beyond the pale; they pillage, murder and stack up their enemies' skulls with impunity.  Yuck. 

But God's kingdom class both the oppressed and the oppressor:

Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter. (Eccles. 4:1)

God desires to see all come to repentance: 

Say to them, "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’" (Ezek. 33:11) 

Jesus makes it clear the order of God's salvation plan: 

You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. (John 4:22)

Paul echoes it: 

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (Rom. 1:16)

Jonah does not grasp the inclusivity of God's plan, for he is judging the behavior of a pagan people, not seeing them as fellow sinners, as part of the human family who desperately need the touch of Yahweh.   

What I love about the Scriptures is when you've read verses in the past and they suddenly jump out at you with a freshness and an urgency. I am reading through a chronological Bible these days. It fits how I think.  I am an unabashed history nerd, and so having the Scripture unfold in historical order (some interpretation is necessary, to be sure), I can better understand the trajectory of God's salvation story. 

I am reading Jonah now in this Bible (this blog comes from a study I did some time ago) and some familiar verses popped out! We just passed the momentous celebration of Easter.  We look once more  into the empty tomb and see what the apostles saw: He is not here! He is risen!  We also run to share this news about our risen Savior! 

So, when I read these verses, I realized just how much Jonah's experience echoes what Jesus is going to experience in His impending death. 

In Jesus' day, people knew their Hebrew Scriptures, and when they heard a small portion of Scripture, they could hear the rest of it in their minds.  The Pharisees were especially well-versed (pun intended) in knowing the larger context in which the verses were set. 

So, imagine the scene.  The Pharisees have asked Jesus for a sign. Jesus compares the tomb He will be laid in to the "belly of a huge fish."  The tomb will be in the "heart of the earth."  They get the implication Jesus is making between Jonah's experience and His own: He will not remain in the grip of death. 

Hmmmm.    

Let's set the scene from Matthew 12:38-41:

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here."

Let me humbly insert some verses from Matthew and the Psalms into Jonah's time in the belly of the whale that echo Jesus' coming death and resurrection. The Pharisees know the verses from this portion of Jonah and will be greatly disturbed by Jesus' not-so-subtle comparison. 

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said:

"In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.

"Then he said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.'" (Matt. 26:38) 

You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
I said, "I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple."

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” (Matt. 12:42)

The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.

"From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' (which means 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?')." (Matt. 27:45) 

But you, Lord my God,

brought my life up from the pit.

"For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, you will not allow your holy one to experience corruption." (Psalm 16:10)

When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.

"Jesus answered, 'Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.'” (John 2:19)

Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.

"The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you.” (Matt. 28:5-7)

I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus [the LORD saves], for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21)

And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. (2:1-10)

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:16-20) 

Jonah exited the fish.

Jesus will exit the tomb. 

We will, like Jonah, are directed to preach the good news:  Salvation is open to all. 

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

Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, "Salvation comes from the Lord."

And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. (2: 8-10)

Jonah, literally sitting in the depths of his despair, makes a stunning remark in 2:8: “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” (NIV) Truly an idol is a “lying vanity” as the KJV translates. Jonah raises an interesting point: What idols are we clinging to?

Many of us cling to the idol of our fear. Fear gives us a kind of identity: “I can’t do that. I’m afraid!” Someone may try to talk us out of why our fear should not hold us back, but we cling even tighter to it. Why? Fear tells us who we are: We are victims. If we venture out, we will be victimized again. Our fear gives us permission to stay where we are. How could we possibly go out there and do well? We don’t even try. We remain in a state of inertia. Inertia means that if some object is at rest, it will remain at rest; likewise, if an object is in motion, it will stay in motion.

So, we are inert: We stay “at rest,” inactive and unresponsive. Our fear is the known. We know our past, the hurt we’ve suffered, and we draw a kind of comfort in knowing that the past is always there, answering for us.

The future is the unknown. We can’t know it, so we shrink back, and say, “No, I can’t do that!” or “I can’t be that!” 

We may be “at rest,” but we are not at peace.

That’s why Jonah realized the worthlessness of idols. They are safe. They demand nothing from us. When we cling to fear, we forfeit grace. How so? Grace is God reaching out to us. If we do not extend out our hand, we may miss His grasp.

I had a friend who worked for the Coast Guard. He told me that the most dangerous moment of rescuing someone stranded in the water was when he would reach out to grab the victim’s hand. The victim, panicking, would then try to pull him into the water, and would thrash around even more violently. The panic that the victim was experiencing meant that he or she wasn’t thinking, “Hey!  This man from the Coast Guard is here to help me.  I will stay calm and grab his hand, and he will hoist me up and we’ll ride up to the helicopter, hovering above us.” 

Instead, the panic and fear that the victim was experiencing clouded (very understandably so) the victim’s calm cooperation in the rescue attempt. 

Fear does that to us.  We could very easily miss the mighty Hand coming down for us to grasp.  What is the antidote to fear?  Fear is counteracted by the wisdom of God. The Word of God calls it the “fear of the Lord.”  Wait!  Do we fear Him and hide behind the cosmic couch, waiting for His mighty hand to strike us?  No, the “fear of the Lord” is defined as “A loving reverence for God that included submission to his lordship and to the commands of his word.”[1]

That’s not a cringing, clinging kind of fear.  It is a profound realization that the One Who threw the stars into space and wove DNA out of four basic chemicals loves you deeply.  Let’s look at how fear of the Lord and wisdom liberate us from our fear: 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
To him belongs eternal praise. (Ps.111:10 KJV)

“Good understanding:” that’s an important first step.  I was a teacher and I have taught in many different settings: university, junior high and high school.  The one thing all students in all grades have in common is (drum roll, please): The First Day of Class. Everyone walks in looking anxious and full of questions: “How can I get an A in this class?  Is there lots of homework?  How strict a grader are you?”

The lack of knowledge about the class produces a feeling of being lost and students do not like that!  Once I discuss the expectations of the class, a little about my experience and myself, the students seem a little less nervous.  It still takes time for students to become familiar with the pace of the class and what I am looking for in the assignments, but knowledge comes from experiencing the class.

Knowledge increases over time, as long as you stick with it and do not drop out of the process.  Here’s an equation that might help:

Experience + Time = Knowledge

That’s why we are disappointed with ourselves (or others) when we stop learning a particular task.  We wonder later that if we had only stuck with it, how much better we would be now.

Jonah’s time in the whale (yes, it is three days, but they are long days) and his experience of having no one but the Lord to turn to, gives him a kind of knowledge that allows him to reassert God’s sovereignty.  He missed God’s grace by clinging to his fear.  Now he can see that God alone will be his strength.  Proverbs 15:33 says, 

The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.  

Jonah is now humbled, sitting in the sloshing stomach juices of a whale.  He now sees how his fear contrasts with his knowledge of the living God.  Proverbs 28:26 affirms,

Those who trust in themselves are fools,
but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.

Another way to interpret “walks in wisdom” is to see it as equal to one “who trusts in the Lord.”[2] 

It’s not just head knowledge.  It is knowledge of Who God is and what He desires of us. Proverbs 3:5-6 says it beautifully:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.                                           

Contrast that with our failure to trust the Lord: 

Whoever scorns instruction will pay for it,
but whoever respects a command is rewarded. (Prov. 13:13)

So, are we leaning on our limited knowledge or seeking with humility what the Lord would teach us and have us do? 

Sometimes I assume I am driving the speed limit, because I don’t think I am going all that fast.  My driving seems safe to me.  But the speed limit is not a “speed suggestion,” and how many times, when I have been pulled over, am I asked by the officer, “Do you know how fast you were going?” 

That question and my response allow the officer to determine how aware I am.  Did I even notice the speed limit signs, or better yet, did I even notice him sitting a ways up the road, with his radar gun pointing right at me?  Am I following the law in regards to speeding?  My lack of knowledge or awareness will not absolve me of a ticket.  My standard of “safe” is not a substitute for the vehicle code. 

If we scorn the Lord’s instruction, just like Jonah did in the earlier part of the story, we will have consequences.  The Lord’s correction is not done to hurt or humiliate us, but to teach us.

Look at Jonah now!  He now has wisdom born of the experience of sitting in the darkness, relying solely upon God.  Instead of grumbling about how unfair the Lord is, and playing the victim so he need not change, he sings, 

But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You.  What I have vowed I will make good.  Salvation comes from the Lord. (2:9) 

That “But, I” is significant.  He’s contrasting himself to those who cling to worthless idols and lose out on God’s grace.  Here’s where experience can soften us and make us more sympathetic to others.  Jonah’s original call was to preach to those who cling to worthless idols: the people of Nineveh.  Instead of being scared by them, or degrading them for their heathen ways, he now sees how their belief in worthless idols is robbing them of God’s grace, the joy of knowing who He is and how much He loves them. Their lack of knowledge of God has made their existence lack true meaning.

My daughter, who is my spiritual hero, went through a severe battle in her teens with bipolar disorder.  She went into a mental hospital twice, and ended up in a rehabilitation center in another state for six months, for therapy and to finish school.  She checked herself into the hospital the first time for she knew that she was in serious trouble.  She struggled, cursed, cried and fought her way out of the darkness of mental illness.  She gained an insightful knowledge of suffering that many people will never truly know. 

What is she doing now?  She graduated with a Master’s Degree in Social Work, and now has her PhD. She dedicated time to obtaining these degrees where she could learn how to counsel people towards wholeness.  She told me that you couldn’t help others until you change how you see yourself. 

She sees herself as more than a survivor. She sees herself as having overcome tremendous obstacles. When she speaks to very troubled people, she sees the potential in them to overcome as well.

But, if she saw herself as a victim, she would see her clients the same way. She would be less inclined to tell them the truth about their fallacious thinking, destructive behaviors and attitudes that are hindering their recovery.  She has a no-nonsense approach.  She speaks the truth lovingly to them, because she sees their potential.  She remembers the potential in herself when she was a troubled teen.

Jonah now sees himself in the light of God’s grace, and not as a disobedient prophet and fallen follower of the one true God.  The focus is off himself and on God.  He makes a thanksgiving offering with a vow.  Vows are scary for people today, for what we speak in solemn ceremonies is often ignored later on when life gets tough.  Vows today have an elastic quality to them.  A vow is a promise to carry out what you say you will do, regardless of how you may feel down the road. 

Psalm 66:13-14 says, 

I will come to Your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you—vows my lips promise and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble. 

It’s easy to promise God what you will do when you are standing in church or in front of a group and the bullets aren’t flying.  Our characters are tested when the bullets fly!  Suddenly our words, spoken in peace, become either a lighthouse for us to strive towards in the storm, or are a burden on our shoulders, soon to be discarded. 

Jonah vowed to the Lord out of a sense of gratitude, and this indicates a growth in his character:  I now want to show the Lord how thankful I am for revealing Himself to me. I will do better from now on. 

Jonah affirms that, “Salvation comes from the Lord.” He now knows he is in God’s hands.  He now knows God is in charge of his world.  Then, boom!  Jonah is vomited out onto the beach.  Salvation comes in many forms, does it not?  Have you ever been “vomited out”? 

The doors close even though you were so sure that you’d be walking through them. You lose the race that you were striving to win.  Sometimes salvation is not just a deliverance from sin and death; it is deliverance from circumstances that may have been an impediment to our growth.  We may not see that at the time, but God knows how much maturity we need to go forth and fulfill our calling.   

Jonah is growing inside the whale’s stomach, because he is in an intense “prayer closet” with no distractions.  God has work for him to do.  Jonah’s character will need some major fine-tuning before he can fulfill his calling. 

Out onto the beach he came, covered in seaweed and gastric juices.  Here is one man who will never be the same and whose fear was indeed a worthless idol. Salvation comes from the one true God, and while Jonah will have to learn that lesson again, he’s now on the sand.  He is standing in the clear light of day.

[1] NIV Study Bible, note on Proverbs 1:7.

 [2] NIV Study Bible, note on Proverbs 28:26.

Hey! It's Dark in Here! Jonah, Chapter 2:1-6 Continued

We are pondering how God used a large fish to swallow Jonah, and how we could see that as punishment for his disobedience.  

It's not so farfetched to think that. 

He has been disobedient by not following God's call to go out and preach repentance to the Ninevites. He booked a ship going in the opposite direction and thought taking a snooze below decks would be the end of it. 

Then he gets hurled over the side of the ship (he deserved that too!) and went into a raging sea.  In the ancient world, the sea represented chaos. The once and future prophet is in the sea and it then calms down.  Did Jonah catch the idea that he will bring the One who calms the sea--Who brings order and hope--to those tossed about by sin's sea?

I don't think so. 

The key verse here is: "Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights" (1:17). 

The fish was a provision from God. An agent of rescue.

Has God sent you an agent of rescue?  Perhaps it was or is a pastor; a friend; a family member; a doctor or a counselor.  Maybe many people.  Maybe just one. 

But God is in the business of providing those who will stand alongside us, offer us comfort, guidance or just a good listening ear. 

How often we forfeit hope when we isolate away from the very ones that God is sending to assist us to get up and out: 

Walk with the wise and become wise,
     for a companion of fools suffers harm. (Prov. 13:20)

We lose His blessings when He has heard our pleas and sends out agents to minister to us.  Do we slam the door in their faces?

Many years ago, my mother started sliding into deep dementia, due to twenty-six years of alcoholism.  The doctor took a scan of the frontal lobe of her brain, and instead of brain tissue, there was just fluid, fluid from the dead brain cells.  The doctor told me her symptoms would mimic Alzheimer’s, and within a year after being reduced to an infantile state, she would be gone. 

Sure enough, she soon started having trouble swallowing her food, and speaking.  She had trouble remembering things, and grew more and more confused as the days wore on.  She started salivating on herself, and her shirt would grow wet from the drool. 

As she grew worse, I grew more and more isolated.  I was embarrassed to take her to church, and when I did, I was startled at how little people seem to care.

Then I stopped going to church. 

One day, I heard a knock on my door.  My very sweet pastor was on the doorstep, and I asked him in.  He seemed a little guarded and then asked me what was wrong.  I finally blurted out that I didn’t think that his church cared about what I was going through!  Wasn’t it obvious that my mom was going downhill?

He quietly looked at me and said, “Rhonda, the church is many things, but one thing we can’t do is read minds.  You haven’t shared with us exactly what is wrong with your mother, and you haven’t shared your pain as her caregiver.  Please tell me what is happening.” 

At that moment, what was so obvious to me wasn’t clear to others.  I had not told anyone, including my pastor, the long sad story of her illness. 

So, I shared my story with this saintly man.  Sure enough, that Sunday, I noticed gentle looks from many people and received some desperately needed hugs.  My perspective changed.  I felt I was now with people who would help me get through this. 

My mother’s situation and mine had not changed.  My perspective had.  I now had hope, because I had opened up and sought counsel with something other than my own sad and angry thoughts.

Jonah declares, 

When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple. (2:7)

Oh Lord, help us, even in the depths of our darkness, to remember You!

Jesus is described in the Gospel of John as being the very dwelling place of God:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (1:14) 

Do you see it now?  God remembered us, and dwelt among us in the fullest and most complete way possible: He wrapped Himself in flesh, and walked among us. 

The word in the Greek that John uses for “made His dwelling” is associated with the “Tent of Meeting” where the children of Israel and Moses met to commune with God in the desert.  This tent was filled with God’s glory.[1] 

Christ, “dwelling” in the flesh, had the glory of God dwelling in Him:

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Col. 1:19-20)

We are not alone.  Jesus knows all too well the pain we go through.  The writer of Hebrews, proclaiming Christ to be the ultimate high priest, says,

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way as we are — yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (4:14-16)

As we draw near to God, seeking a new perspective, we gain the ultimate hope:  God is right there in the belly of the whale with us. Jesus is the ultimate Agent of Rescue.  But we have to listen and follow  what He says.  If He sends us a "fish"-- someone to stand with us--then we need to thank Him for this provision.

We may still be in the dark, to be sure. Sometimes we sit there for our "three days and nights." But, look up and in the darkness you will see the face of Jesus.  He also went into the darkness—the darkness of a tomb—and now He constantly encourages us that Easter morning is coming! 

 

---

[1] NIV Study Bible, note on John 1:14.