Reader, do you ever look at pain and sorrow as a gift? Is my emptiness and confusion a gift? Was the fish that swallowed Jonah a gift from God to the people of Nineveh?
The Prayer
In his classic work, The Imitation of Christ, the blunt Thomas รก Kempis wrote, "Nothing given by the Most High God is insignificant. And if he should give you pain and sorrow, you ought be thankful, too. For whatever he permits he does for our own good."
Lately, through cloudy personal circumstances, I've come to a place where I often take inventory of what I have. What has God given me? I'm not talking about material things or possessions as much as the places and times He's given me. Who is in my line of sight? What are the circumstances in which God has intentionally placed me? Why?
I've mentioned in previous entries the importance of being attentive believers who notice God's instruments. The Spirit will teach us "all things" and if we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, listening and watching Him is our lifestyle (John 14:26). God's intentions are never frivolous. God's motives and His means should never be overlooked. He is actively involved in our everyday lives. To Him there are no "spiritual matters" divorced from "physical matters." Every part of our lives are spiritual because we are spiritual beings. God-breathed beings.
After trying to flee from God by boat, Jonah is thrown overboard in an attempt to calm the raging storm. Here's the memorable climax to the narrative… Jonah gets swallowed up by a giant fish. For three days and three nights he sat alone in darkness in the belly of a fish. Jonah cries out to God. Isn't it funny that a man who runs from God can also, at the same instant, call upon God?! The Thing that scares Jonah the most is the very same Thing that calms him. The very judgment of which God wished to warn Nineveh was now Jonah's judgment: Hell. There is significance in anything He permits or creates.
While in the belly of fish, Jonah reached a crossroads. At this point, he could have kept running from God by choosing to ignore Him. He could've just sat in darkness waiting to die. Instead, though, something profound happens: Jonah prays. His voice, perhaps in a violent scream, reverberates off of the fish's malodorous loins. One might expect his prayer to be one of abhorrent rage or even a plea for death… or the opposite… a miracle. Instead, Jonah prays in Hebrew's perfect tense. He prays "from the depths of Sheol" a confident, faith-full prayer that sounds as if he's already been saved: "In my distress I called to the Lord and he answered me." He goes beyond a recognition of God's saving power as he begins to utter thanksgiving: "But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you" (v. 9). Isn't this the same man who ran from God at all costs? This doesn't sound like a man who is in Hell. This sounds like a changed man… like a new man. Hold on... newness inside Jonah's darkest hour? Yes, God can create even in our "pit." He only gives.
Eventually, God commands the fish to spit Jonah out (v. 10).
He was saved. This begs the question… What in the world was God thinking? Why was Jonah put through all of that? God placed him in Hell for three days and three nights! What's going on here?
Jonah's damnation was far from fruitless. As the opening of this entry suggests, nothing God does is haphazard. God makes no rash decisions. He only makes perfectly just and impeccably planned decisions. I like to think that Jonah sat in the fish for maybe two days and contemplated his life. I wonder if he sat there covered in seaweed (2:5) as he was struck with a thought: The Lord my God is faithful. He has never left me or forsaken me. Though I am in the pit of Hell, my God is still worthy to be praised. I like to think that that's what initiated his prayer.
The Hellish Gift
Chapter 3 finally uncovers the mystery of Jonah's hellish experience. God was able to use him to speak to the people of Nineveh. If it weren't for his damnation, perhaps Jonah never would have been broken enough to call upon the Lord. He probably would have been sleeping in the belly of a boat ignoring the wave-breaking breath of God.
So, now you see, Reader, Sheol was not only Jonah's gift from God, but also Nineveh's gift from God. God only creates, gives, and restores. His gifts do not look like normal worldly gifts (Matthew 7:11, John 14:27). No, no, no. His gifts keep on giving. They transform, bleed, penetrate, breath, sparkle, and they breed. He is our gift and we are His.
I want to be as clear as I can here, Dear Reader. I'm NOT suggesting in any way that God brings calamity or that He likes to strike us down like an angry grandpa. All I am suggesting is that it is God's will to save every man (John 3:16-17, 12:32 and countless other references!). God desires an intimate relationship with all of us and He does all that He can to romance us into His grace. Sometimes that looks weird and sometimes it looks confusing. But it always turns out to be grace. It always turns out to be far better than we could've imagined. God cannot be overestimated.
My point, Reader, is this: Don't, whatever you do, overlook the Holy Spirit's attempt to save you. For Jonah it happened to be three days and three nights in the belly of a giant fish. For Jesus it was three days and three nights in a tomb. Both were spent in darkness and both begot salvation (Matthew 12:40). We must keep an eye out for God's gifts and we must learn to respond to them with tender hearts. I need to be attentive to what the Spirit is teaching me and mindful of the ways in which He chooses to speak. Sometimes it even looks like death, but He is life.
