Jonah - But....

Four chapters that have been made into plays, books, poems, movies, and is one of the most well known and well loved Bible stories. Most Americans will be able to tell with some accuracy the story of Jonah and the whale. The Bible calls it a great fish, not a whale, but that is not what I noticed about this book. The first thing I notice is that Jonah was given a command BUT he went in the opposite direction trying to flee from God. We think that Jonah doing this is pretty silly. How can we run from God? Psalm 139:7-12 states that there is no where that we can flee from God. HE is everywhere. What struck me is that today we still try to do the same thing Jonah did. We know what we are supposed to do and we make every excuse not to. We will do whatever it takes to not do what God commands. The funny thing is occurs in the next BUT in this book. God is in complete control and no matter what we do He always brings us back to where he want us to be. Even in the midst of something that was obviously from the Lord, Jonah still tried to escape. He fell asleep in the middle of one of the worst storms ever recorded. All the sailors knew it was supernatural BUT Jonah still did not want to turn back to God. It takes being in the belly of a great fish to get Jonah to wake up that he is not in control of anything. God is. In chapter 2 verses 2-9 we hear Jonah's prayer and we see him finally acknowledging God for who He is. He goes from a me centered focus to a you (or God) centered focus. In those verses he says, referring to God
you heard
you cast
your waves
your billows
your sight
your holy temple 2x
you brought me
He ends his prayer with great words. He prays with thanksgiving that salvation belongs to the Lord. BUT the story does not end there. Jonah, like all of us, lets his human nature get the best of him. He gets angry that the people that he was to condemn did not get what they deserved. Wow! I am so thankful that God in his infinite mercy does not give me what I deserve. I am very glad that God gives us all an opportunity to come to him. It is hard for us to fathom that Christ died for even the most hardened criminal we can think of. Adolf Hitler, Ted Bundy, every member of Al Queda. Jesus died for them all. I pray that my heart will remember this. I was dying in my sin BUT God saved me. Let me always remember where I could be if not for the mercy and grace of God.

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