This week's blog is written by Pauline Lo Alker
The story of "Jonah and the Whale" is known to most of us. Many of us first heard this as young children in Sunday school. Why not? This is a story filled with adventure and danger plus plenty of thrilling drama in between. It appeals to both children and adults and rivals the best of Hollywood's movie scripts.
But the lessons of Jonah are too important to be trivialized or left just an exciting children's story. Jonah's encounter with God and his subsequent journey teaches us about obedience, gratitude and compassion. Above all, it teaches us God' mercy and patient pursuit of us in spite of our wrongdoings.
So, let us start from the beginning.
Background
Jonah was one of the twelve Minor Prophets who prophesied during the time of the Israelite king Jeroboam. For many years, Israel was oppressed by the Arameans, but after the Assyrains defeated the Arameans, the Israelites were freed from this oppression. King Jeroboam began to recapture the land lost to the Arameans and slowly expanded Israel's borders. The expansion was made possible by God's providence and made easier by the internal troubles within Assyria -- conflicts with the Arameans and Urartians plus famines and revolts. During this time, Assyria was not an immediate threat to Israel; so Israel enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity because of God's compassion, even though the Israelites "did evil in the sight of the Lord " (2 Kings 14:24)
It was during this time that the Lord called on Jonah.
God 's Command
"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call against it, for their evil has come up before me." (Jonah 1:2 ESV)
The Lord spoke to Jonah and told him to go to Nineveh, the great city of Assyria. Nineveh was located on the east bank of the Tigris River, approximately 220 miles north of the present day Baghdad. God ordered Jonah to deliver a warning message to the Ninevites: "Repent of your evil ways or suffer the consequences of your wickedness!"
What did Jonah do?
Instead of replying, "Yes, Lord. I will go where you sent me," Jonah "rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish." (1:3)
Alas! Not only did Jonah disobey God's order, he defiantly headed in the opposite direction from where he was in Gath-Hepher toward Tarshish! The exact location of Tarshish is not clear, but it is believed to be somewhere in the coastlands of the Mediterranean, probably in today's Spain.
Notice the words "went down" in verse 1:2 . The same words are found in Exodus 15:45 when God cast Pharaoh's chariots and army into the sea and "they went down into the depth like stone." The Bible repeatedly uses the term "went down" as an euphemism for death.
The point is this: Each step we take away from the presence of the Lord is one step closer to "going down" to death!
"Why, Jonah?"
What was going on in Jonah's mind to be so defiantly disobedient of God?
- Prejudice? -- "I don't want to go to that 'foreign' place filled with those strange people. I'd much rather deliver this message to my own kind. God would probably prefer giving this message to our people anyway. After all, we are God's chosen people; those Ninevites are not!"
- Justification? -- "As long as I deliver the same message, God wouldn't mind where I go."
- Fear? -- "Those Assyrians had done some terrible things to us before; they would probably kill me if I went there."
- Revenge? -- "I wouldn't mind seeing God punish them!"
- ..........
A 180-degree Contrast
Jonah's response to God's command is a 180-degree contrast to that of Abram's (before God renamed him Abraham):
"The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you ...." (Genesis 12:1 ESV)
God's command to Abram challenged him to abandon his country, family, identity, security and personal comfort, to a place unnamed, of which "I will show you ....I will bless you..."
God's direction to Abram was way, way, way more challenging and difficult than what He gave to Jonah. Did Abram run away from the Lord as Jonah did?
No! "So Abram went." (Genesis 12:4 ESV). And God blessed Abram abundantly.
So What? (What will I do with what I have read today?)
What if God had promised Jonah great blessings beforehand like He did Abram? Would Jonah have obeyed?
A self-centered, short-sighted, defiant heart would care more about immediate comfort than promised blessings that might not happen for a long while. A hard-hearted heart wouldn't care if blessings were promised or not. But a greedy, cynical heart that focused on, "What will I get out of doing this," might!
We need to ask ourselves three questions, and let's be completely honest:
- Are we apt to be more like Jonah or Abram?
- What are the typical reasons why we so often disobey God's will?
- What motivations do we have for our obedience?
So what happened to Jonah and to the Ninevites? Stay tuned .... more drama to come!
The majority of the time, there is a negative connotation when we think about Jonah. We say "God said go and Jonah said no" or my personal favorite "God asked one simple request from Jonah and he turned away from God." God was not asking something simple from Jonah. God knew the malice and pure hatred Jonah had to the Ninevits, and I believe that’s partly why God chose him for the Job. Was what Jonah did right then? OF COURSE NOT! All I am trying to say is that their are way too many "sons of Jonah" in this world that read this passage and think that their is no self-reflection. Jonah is a great book to use as a self-check. What is God calling us to do? Picture this if you will. The day after 9/11 the president approaches his stand to make his first formal speech after what had happened. All the country waits in anticipation to hear the call to arms. Instead the president declares that anyone involved in the attack would be given full citizenship to the US. That feeling that you feel right now is the same feeling that Jonah must have felt. Instead of being sent as the "angel of death" he is being sent to declare that the same people that killed Jonah's people is now being cordially invited into the family and kingdom of God. Once again, was what Jonah did right? NO! but it certainly gives us another perspective and reason behind what Jonah’s disobedience.
ReplyDeleteGod will take you to the edge of your comfort zone then push you over. Your motivation for obedience is living with pupose and serving God.
ReplyDelete