Jonah
Welcome back to Grace
Outpost! I am glad to have you here. I hope that each of you had a splendid
holiday season. Now we find ourselves
well into January and surely there are more than a few of us who have already
abandoned many, if not all, of our resolutions for the year. Change is tough, it is uncomfortable, and
many times we quit because we fear that we will fail. Somehow we figure if we silently quit it is
better than failing, at least this way it is our choice and our control. Today we will look at a story of someone who
quit not because he was afraid of failure, but he was afraid of success!
Everyone has
heard of the book of Jonah and what does everyone associate with the
story? A whale. There is so much focus on the great fish that
the real story of our Great God is lost.
Only three verses in the 4 chapters mentions the fish and it mentions it
without making a big deal of it. The
truth is that if we can accept Genesis 1, “In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth”, then why shouldn’t we accept that God could compel an
animal for his purposes? I want to
encourage you look past the fish and see the compassion of God that is
displayed in this book.
Jonah likely
wrote this book, though there is nothing to prove that, however the narrative
does slip into the first person in chapter 2 and records much of what took
place when Jonah was alone. An exact
date is not known though most scholars place a range of 800 – 750 BC with the
late 760’s as the most likely based on clues from the text. As we will see in the text Jonah was called
to go to Nineveh, which was a great city in Assyria. These are the same Assyrians who later
conquer Israel in 722 BC and they were known as a cruel and evil people.
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son
of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out
against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship
going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them
to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea,
and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break
up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they
hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But
Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was
fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you
sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to
us, that we may not perish.”
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us
cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So
they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on
whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do
you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And he said
to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the
sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him,
“What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from
the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to
you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more
tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the
sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great
tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to
dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous
against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not
perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord,
have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into
the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord
exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to
swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three
nights.
So the first
thing that stands out in the text that Jonah’s call as a prophet is not to
Israel, but to the people of Nineveh (Jonah 1:2). We see also that Jonah is called to go speak
against the evil there (Jonah1:2). The
reason for Jonah’s flight is not immediately given; we only see that he
immediately tries to run from God (Jonah 1:3).
Have you ever done that? I know
that for many years I ran from my calling to ministry. Maybe you have experienced this in a
different way, maybe you came across things in the Bible that challenged you
and refused to accept. Regardless of the
context it all falls into the realm of disobedience and a willingness to reject
God in place of our own wants and desires.
Verse 3 ends with the statement he went away from presence of the LORD,
but can we truly run from the presence of God?
Psalm 139:7-12 reminds us that there is nowhere that we can go to escape
God’s presence. By doing this Jonah is
for all purposes resigning from his calling, he is quitting and fleeing 2000
miles away. Sometimes it is easier to
quit than to face the need to change our own hearts.
So here we have
Jonah asleep in the bowels of the ship thinking he has escaped from doing that
which he does not wish to do. He is
about to have the biggest wake up call of his life, because he is about to see
that you cannot flee from God. Verse 4
says that God brought a storm that threatened the safety of the ship. We see that the sailors tried everything that
their experience had taught them to keep the ship safe, but it wasn’t enough
(Jonah 1:4-6). Disobedience brings
discipline. The prophet cannot flee from
his responsibility. How many things do
we endure because of our stubbornness and our attempts to flee from God? As we will see this experience was necessary
for Jonah, this was a catalyst that moved him toward obedience.
Out of options
and in the face of their prayers not working the sailors decide that someone
must have brought the calamity upon them and that they would cast lots to
determine who needed to confess something that they had done (Jonah 1:7). This process singles out Jonah and they ask
him a quick series of questions to figure out what the issue is. Jonah identifies himself as a Hebrew and a
follower of the God of heaven. He makes
a distinction that God is the creator of all things, not merely one of their
local pagan gods (Jonah 1:8-9).
Understanding that he was attempting to flee from a God ordained command
the sailors were even more afraid, but they were at a loss of what to do so
they ask Jonah what they should do to appease God (Jonah 1:10-11). Jonah tells them to throw him overboard, but
the men refuse and try to row the boat ashore (Jonah 1:12-13). They fear being held accountable for his
death incase he is not the cause of the storm.
But as the storm intensified and they had exhausted all their options
they threw Jonah overboard (Jonah 1:14-15).
After dumping Jonah overboard the storm dissipates and the sea calms and
the sailors offered sacrifices to God and made vows (Jonah 1:16).
There is an
interesting juxtaposition of the increasing faith of the sailors in God and
their willingness to obey with the disobedience of Jonah, who had to be told to
pray and confess his sin. God’s command
to Jonah was as much for Jonah as it was for the people the of Nineveh. God’s discipline of Jonah was out of love for
his wayward prophet. God doesn’t truly
need us to accomplish his will and yet he invites us to be a part of it and I
think we can see that is because the tasks we participate in teach us and mold
us as much as we get to teach and preach.
The world around
us often tells us to follow our heart, but the desires of our hearts are
corrupt and often are selfish. Jonah’s
love of country led him to hatred for a people that God was calling him to. Jonah convinces himself that fleeing from his
calling is a good solution. We are great
at justifying things to ourselves and convincing ourselves that we are in the
right even when we know deep down that we are wrong.
Are you on a
road today that is leading you away from God?
Are you allowing your heart to convince you that what you are doing is
okay? If so let me be the sailors to
your Jonah, pray to God and confess your sin!