Preface
I find the story of Jonah to be one of the most fascinating books of the Bible. Of course, as I've grown up I've heard this story probably one hundred and seventy three times. In the last year, though, I've read it with new eyes. It is such a classic story that is repeated again and again in Sunday School classrooms. Because of that, though, I believe that adults fail to recognize the enormity of the narrative. The climax is easily recalled, but the aftermath is completely lost. It only takes up about a page in my Bible, but the lessons I've gathered from it are innumerable. I'm about to jump into it, so, Reader, I'd suggest that you read it again if it's been a while.
…here we go…
The Word
"The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai," says verse one. Let's stop there. I always thought of Jonah as a rebel. You know… someone who is running from God; someone who displeases the Lord. While that may be true, that ought not be the summation of Jonah's character. "The word of the Lord came to Jonah…" because he was a righteous man who sought after God's will. Whenever we read about the word of the Lord, change takes place. God's word, His breath, is irrevocable and unimaginably creative. John wrote: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." (John 1:1-2). God's Word creates. We must tune our ears to the perfect pitch of God's whisper. Applied to the life of Jonah, we can gather that he was familiar with his "shepherd's voice" as he heard God say, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." (vs. 2). Yes, Jonah may have run from the Lord, but we must not write him off as a bad man. It takes an attentive and sensitive believer to live a life quiet enough to feel God's breath. And it takes hearing God's voice to run from it; it takes someone who knows what's straight to know what is crooked.
The Great Contradiction
Jonah was a righteous man who listened to God's voice and cried out to God in times of stress (2:1-9). At the same time, though, he would rather die than to carry out the will of God (1:12 and 4:3). When the sailors on his boat asked him who he was, his definition was something similar to what we might say: "I… worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land" (1:9). Jonah knew, as the demons do, that God exists, but he expanded to say that he worshiped God. Yet, he still denied God's command.
Since Adam, we, as followers of Jesus Christ, share the same contradiction as Jonah. In our hearts and with our mouths we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We boldly declare that God created the heavens and the earth. We deny all other gods and burn all of our idols. We go to church on Sunday (maybe even Wednesday, too!) and worship our Lord and Savior. God asks us, Who do you say I am? to which we respond, You are the Christ! We are Pro-Life because we know God created all of us with purpose and with a soul. We know and teach that God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. We tithe. We send money to Africa. We love the poor and treat others as we want to be treated. With faith we pray for miracles. We disciple others and lift each other up in prayer, believing that God can do great things. Our ears are acutely tuned to God's harp and we spend time with Him behind closed doors. Yes, we say, Our God is above others and He knows all. Yet, when it comes to allowing God to have His will carried out in us, we tarry.
We carry in the same Body that finds shabat in the arms of God the contradictive spirit that denies His will. I love the way Eugene Peterson elegantly phrased it: "Defining God down to the level of our emotions, and thinking and then demanding that God work by the terms of our agenda, is set aside in favor of a life of worship and prayer, obedience and love-- a way of life open and responsive to what God is doing rather than one in which we plot strategies to get God involved in what we are doing." God does not exist to be a part of what my life is about. I shouldn't walk around everyday trying to fit God into my working, eating, playing, talking, etcetera. Rather, we exist to fit into God's Orchestration. We have been invited to join in God's Great Dance. It's not ours. So, the question here is this: Do you or don't you believe that God knows all and works together all things according to His will? It is black and white. If you do believe that God is omniscient and omnipotent, your life should look differently. It should be one bent on serving God's purposes. We should be a fearless group of people. It is the essence of our faith. Running from God is an activity set aside for those who deny God's existence. "But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." (Hebrews 10:39)
