The Belly of a Fish

Tonight, I attended a revival at the Followers of Christ Baptist Church in Carlisle. Mark Sanders was preaching. Mark has a special place in my heart. While giving a talk at my Walk to Emmaus last year, he just happened to look at me, point my way, and remind me that I am a precious daughter of God. I needed that reminder. Now I sign my prayer journal entries with 'Your precious daughter'. So anyway, I was really looking forward to listening to what Mark wanted to share today.

He talked about the book of Jonah. The very first verse says that Jonah heard the word of the Lord. Mark expressed that Jonah didn't question whether or not he heard the word of God. He didn't wonder. He didn't even pray on it, whether or not that's what he heard. He knew it was the word of God.

Probably every follower of Christ wonders regularly if God is speaking to them...in the signs that we see during the day, in our dreams, in the coincidences that occur in our lives. We wonder. And we all wish that we knew 100% that God was truly speaking directly to us, telling us what to do for Him. How easy would it be to do the will of God if we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what the will of God is. Or would it?

Jonah knew. He knew what God's will was for him...to go to Nineveh. Yet he chose to run the other way. He got on a boat that was taking him far away from Nineveh and God's will for him. He didn't want to have anything to do with Nineveh...even though that's EXACTLY what God's will was for him.

Eventually, others threw Jonah off the boat in order to calm the storms brought on by God. And Jonah found himself in the belly of a fish. Why the belly of a fish? Because God needed Jonah in a place where he had no where else to go, nothing he could do, except to look to God to save him.

Jonah prayed and called to the Lord. "But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord." Jonah 2:9 Then God commanded that the fish spit Jonah out onto the dry land. Voila, Jonah was freed from the fish.

And this time, when God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, he did. Good thinking, Jonah. He's a fast learner.

While in Nineveh, Jonah preached one of the shortest sermons ever: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." Jonah 3:4b Everyone from the king to the donkeys put on sackcloth and fasted, calling urgently on God and giving up their evil ways. When God saw this, he had compassion on the city and its people.

So...Jonah went into the city of Nineveh, which was overrun with wickedness against the Lord. But instead of having to endure their violence or work at convincing them to listen to him, he finds that they are willing to listen. God prepared the way for Jonah. If Jonah had only listened to God in the first place, he would have seen how God would be there for him.

Instead of being relieved that his mission was over and successful, Jonah becomes angry! He didn't avoid going to Nineveh because he didn't like the Ninevites. He wasn't afraid of the people and their violence. No...he didn't want to see the grace of God bestowed on the formerly evil Ninevites. He didn't want them to be forgiven. He wanted them to endure the wrath of God. He wanted God to treat them like the average human would treat them. He even went as far as to say that he'd rather be dead than see the Ninevites forgiven for their evil ways.

God asked Jonah why he was so darn angry. God compared Jonah's anger over a dying vine, which Jonah didn't plant or tend to, with his compassion for the Ninevites, his children. His point was that Jonah had no right to be angry with God's decision to be compassionate to His children.

And that's where the book of Jonah ends. We don't know what happens to Jonah, if he ever understands or at least learns to accept God's ways. We don't know if he ever learns to forgive the Ninevites. But the fact is, we are much like Jonah. We don't always want to follow God's will. Because we're afraid. Or we don't agree with how God might handle the situation.

How easy would it be for us to do the will of God, even when (especially when) we know that we couldn't possibly understand the level of unconditional love, mercy, and forgiveness that He'll show them?