I grew up in a full
house; four older sisters and one younger brother. And we all had assigned jobs to do. My job was to cut the lawn, shovel the snow,
and (because I was youngest) feed the cat and keep the litter box cleaned. I hated that last assignment. I remember trying to pass it off on my
brother, but it didn’t work. I
considered running away, but realized that I would be the one suffering. The
only thing to do was to endure it.
So, you could say that
I understand a little bit about how Jonah felt when God gave him the assignment
he wrote about in the Old Testament. He
hated the people of Nineveh. They were
nasty, evil people. And they were not
part of God’s chosen family. The last
thing he wanted was for God to forgive them.
Therefore, he decided to run away.
Far from being a cute
children’s story, the lessons we learn from Jonah’s struggle to obey God are
still very practical in our modern day, adult lives. For example, Jonah thought that if he could
get away from Canaan, he would be free from having to obey. Three days being confined in the belly of a huge
fish taught him otherwise. But don’t we
tend to put boundaries on God? Do you
think He only dwells in church buildings (Acts 17:24)? Or that He only looks in on His people on
Sundays? No . . . God is boundless. He is everywhere you are - at all times.
Jonah also teaches us
that our God is a very gracious God. The
Ninevites were an extremely evil and barbaric people. Yet, when they repented, God forgave
them. This kind of amazing grace tends
to put us to shame doesn’t it? Does this
tell us something about how God feels toward those we would consider outsiders
or worthless or contemptible? (see Luke
9:49-50)
Most importantly, this
story teaches us the necessity of obeying God’s will. God did not ask Jonah what he thought of the
idea. He didn’t even ask him if he
wanted to do it. God wanted it done, and
He wanted Jonah to do it. He also calls
many of us today to help others and serve in various ways. But if we refuse to obey, especially when we
have chosen to dislike the one who can use our help, God finds a way to make us
rethink our commitment and readjust our attitude.
I hope you don’t have
to spend time in a “fish’s belly” before you are willing to obey God. There are so many searching for the
blessedness of being in Christ. You can help lead them to take advantage of it.
And after all, life is so much easier (and less stressful) when you can say,
“Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).
Doug
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