Jonah - Peacemaker

The story of Jonah runs out, and he never changes his heart to be a peacemaker. So I will make a few interesting (at least to me) observations I had over the week.

God's plans don't always work the way he wants. I say this from my limited perspective - no disrespect to God intended. He wanted Jonah to change, but that didn't happen.

The idea that God won't use me unless I'm willing is false. He forced Jonah to do the job, as an absolutely unwilling participant. He is God, I am not.

Jonah had a change of heart while he was in the fish, but it didn't last. I don't even know if I would call it a "change of heart". I think the parable Jesus gave explains it well:

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 

When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 

The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 

The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 

But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

I think Jonah was someone with "no root" on this issue. I wonder if God's small demonstration to him about the plant having its root eaten away had some deeper meaning in it. I also like the parallel between this parable and the idea that the "word of God" came to Jonah and he had a lot of trouble with it, so he fell away from what he said inside the fish.

So at the end of this week, I'm amazed at how God put so much together to try to get to the heart of this man. Throughout the drama of the story, God is persistent in trying to get Jonah to change and grow.

Did Jonah get it? No.
Did God give up? No.

God thank you for being with me, even when I don't get it and my roots are shallow. Thank you for your persistence in making peace.

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Sundays | Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

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Jonah - Pure in Heart

So far in the story, it's obvious that God doesn't need Jonah to change the Ninevites. This story is about God trying to change Jonah's heart.

After God forgives the people, he talks with Jonah...

But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

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.”

He doesn't answer God's question. He is unwilling to take that first step toward changing his heart - it's easier to die. So God simplifies things to get the conversation moving forward, by focusing on a plant.

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 is not going to give in, and the story abruptly ends here. In the past I have thought that maybe a final chapter was lost over the years. I can see know that this is a fitting ending - since Jonah won't engage with God, so there is nothing more to say.

My conclusion so far: God will manipulate my circumstances to get me to change, but he won't force a change in my heart. That's up to me. I think this is where my "free will" comes in to play.

• Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. - Viktor Frankl 

Rather than my own prayer to God, I'll quote one from King David: Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

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Saturdays | Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

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Jonah - Mercy

God used Jonah as the vehicle for his mercy, and Jonah hated it:

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.

But to Jonah this seemed 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.”

Jonah was so angry about God forgiving these people, that he went back to wanting to die. As I stated in and earlier post, his grudge and hate ran so deep, he could not accept God's mercy toward them.

At this point, there is some irony in the story. Everybody has changed except Jonah.

The men on the ship turned to God.
The king and people of Nineveh turned to God, and their animals too.
God turned from his anger and forgave them.

Only Jonah is stuck and won't turn. His anger and sense of justice won't let him, understanding that the Ninevites were a very brutal and cruel people (see this link for info).

God, I don't want to be stuck - and I know I often am. I have made my decisions about who I will reach out to, and who deserves your forgiveness. I know in my head that no one really deserves your mercy, and that it's your love that's the driving force for good. In my heart, I often think that I deserve it and others don't.

God, thank you for your mercy towards me. Help me to be merciful toward others.

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Fridays | Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

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Jonah - Hungry for Righteousness

After submitting to God, Jonah went to Nineveh and told them that disaster was coming:

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.”

They responded immediately:

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:

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.”

Why did a powerful city of over 100,000 people listen to some foreign guy that probably looked horrible and stank like fish vomit? I don't know. I guess God was already working on them.

The main thing is that they knew what to do: become hungry and thirsty for righteousness. They took aggressive action to immediately clean up their lives in hopes of pleasing God and avoiding destruction.

God, I wonder what aggressive action you want me to take in my life?

Like these people did, I will call on you. I will give up my violence towards others - my grudges, my judgement, my unforgiveness, my disdain for people.

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Thursdays | Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

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Jonah - Powerless

Instead of dying as he intended, Jonah is trapped inside a giant fish for three days, powerless to do anything. He finally calls out to God to be saved.

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. 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...

... 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.

I like the literalness of Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth in this story. Jonah cries out to God in his powerless state and he gets put on to dry earth.

The most interesting thing to me is that he ends up praising God. Initially, he ran away and tried to kill himself to avoid God. Then he sits in fish for three days not talking to God. Finally, he reached out to God, he shifts from asking for help to talking about how great God is.

I think this is why God inflicts and allows pain in my life: so I come to my senses. This is not God pushing me so I say good things about him. This is me responding to the understanding that I have a connection to the creator of everything.

Paul wrote: 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.

God, these days I have often felt like I'm trapped. I don't know how to fix things, or make them easier for my family. I see myself, my wife, and my kids struggling with loss - I can't make it go away.

God, I have called on you and you have heard my cry for help. You have strengthened me and given me hope. My salvation can only come from you.

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Wednesdays | Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

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Jonah - Mourning

Once the ship set sail with Jonah on it, God caused a huge storm: Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.

Things kept getting worse. Jonah knew God was after him, and his answer was to commit suicide...

The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So the crew asked Jonah, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah had gone insane.

He would rather die than do what God had asked him to do. His grudge against those people must have ran so deep that he could not fathom reaching out to them. Hate had top priority.

An interesting point in the story is that the people around Jonah were in terror and mourning due to his disobedience. This didn't only affect him. He brought pain on the people who were with him.

In a "spiritual" way, Jonah had died. Jesus used Jonah as an example when talking about his own upcoming death: 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.

God, I can't even begin to understand how my own grudges and lack of forgiveness have done damage. It's so hard to ask you this, but show me the effects of my failed relationships. I'm willing to face the regret - and I need your comfort as I do it.

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Tuesdays | Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

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Jonah - Poor in Spirit

This week I'm looking at the story of Jonah - the guy who got swallowed by a huge fish. It's kind of an outlandish story, and not just the part being at the bottom of the sea for three days. God interacts with this uncooperative guy in a fairly strange way.

The story starts out by making it really clear that Jonah's heart is not aligned with God's:

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

God asks Jonah to do something, and Jonah immediately takes off in the other direction. He doesn't just ignore God, or argue with him. He runs away. These people in Nineveh were the enemies of the Jews.

This story is my story a lot of the time. I know I'm supposed to go to people I don't have a good relationship with, and I avoid it. I know in my head it's God's desire is that I would reach out to my "enemies". But in my heart, they can rot.

God forgive me.

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Mondays | Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

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