Whispers of Christ

Previously, I was writing about people of faith. I’m going to begin transitioning away from that and writing about topical items, like my posts about Words. However, these topics take time to write as they are deep studies and I do have a 9-5 job that I do during the week. To this end, I’m writing about Jonah this week as I prepare for the next deep study (stay tuned). 

The story of Jonah has always been a bit hilarious and traumatic for me. Personally I’m terrified of the ocean or really any open water. I always have been. Jonah’s story didn’t help. But as an adult, I’ve found it to be a bit hilarious if not introspective. There are numerous lessons that we can learn from this story, but I’ll do my best to be brief and make this easy for you. First I would recommend that you reread the story. Here is a link to it if you like: JONAH (ESV)

Story Recap:

God calls Jonah and tells him to go to the great city of Nineveh and confront their wickedness. So, Jonah jumps onto a ship headed to Tarshish to get away from the presence of the Lord. 

Because Jonah disobeyed the Lord, God sent a great storm on the ship. The sailors find out it’s Jonah’s fault and end up throwing him into the sea. Then a great fish swallows Jonah. After 3 days, Jonah repents and God causes the fish to throw Jonah up on land!

Jonah then continues onto Nineveh and calls them to repentance. They repent of their sinful ways and turned to God. But Jonah gets angry because he doesn’t think they deserve to be forgiven. So he starts talking to God and gets so mad he throws a temper tantrum and ends up sitting on a hill overlooking the city. 

God causes a plant to grow and give him shade. Then a worm comes and kills the plant, which causes Jonah to spiral and he gets angry again. God then uses it as a lesson for Jonah. 

About Nineveh:

The first thing we should note is that during this time Nineveh was the capital in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. It was located near modern-day Mosul in Iraq, and was known for its architecture and size (Jonah 3:3 says that it was a 3-day journey in size). 

Not only was this a capital and large city but it was situated on the banks of the Tigris river. This made it an important intersection for trade routes. Basically this was the hub of commerce, politics, and spiritual worship during that period.

About Jonah: 

What we know about Jonah is limited. We know that he was a prophet from Gath Hepher (2 Kings 14:25). Gath Hepher is a border town in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Personally from the story, I would describe him a bit like myself: bent towards being judgy, a bit rebellious or stubborn, and a heavy sleeper! 

Other Contextual Notes: 

There are a few other notes that I think are worth mentioning for context: 

1. Casting Lots. 

There are many times in the Bible when the phrase “casting lots” comes up. In our current culture it’s easy to imagine it looking like gambling or throwing knuckle bones for something. I would encourage you to think of it more like this – it’s a coin flip or drawing of straws. Especially in the context of Jonah’s story, it looked much more like trying to figure out who was at fault. 

2. The Fish.

Another point that needs to be made is that christians tend to tell the story with the idea that a whale ate Jonah. While a whale is an aquatic mammal, I would strongly encourage you to be careful making assumptions unless you have something to back it up. We know that it was a fish of some sort. I’m not saying it was a shark, just that we don’t know the actual type of animal it was. 

Take Aways: 

1. Obedience v. Disobedience 

It’s so easy to look at this story and think “I wouldn’t have run. I would have…” Maybe you would have done it differently or maybe not. We don’t know until we are in those situations. I don’t know why Jonah ran away from obeying God. I know it was wrong. I bet he knew it was wrong. I think he was honestly just scared. Going into a large city where everyone is practicing wickedness, where they don’t know God, and speak against it. Sounds like a recipe to get yourself martyred. Have you ever had God ask you to do something or tell you to do something and then act like you didn’t hear it? 

We live in a society where we want to do anything and have no consequences. But that’s not the way it works. There are consequences for every action or inaction. Newton’s third law of motion says “to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. This isn’t just applicable in the physical world but in the spiritual too. Jesus said it “Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” Obedience moves towards God. Disobedience paves the path away from God. You can’t follow God if you aren’t walking the way he wants you too. 

“But Jonah slept!” you say. Yeah. He did. Here is the truth: if you disobey and choose to walk in a way that dishonors God, you quench (smoosh or silence) the Holy Spirit. In the old testament, the Holy Spirit would leave people who didn’t walk with him (think of Samson – he had the Holy Spirit sometimes but other times it says that it “left him”). I think that Jonah was sleeping soundly because the spirit of the Lord left him. He just didn’t notice it because he was too busy making excuses as to why he couldn’t or wouldn’t do what he was told. 

2. You can’t run away from God.

I find it hilarious that Jonah tried to run away from God, as if he was tied to one place. It’s a very human concept right there. Let me tell you, there is no where you can run that God will not be with you. Psalms 139:7-12 (ESV) says: 

“7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?

    Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the morning

    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me,

    and your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

    and the light about me be night,”

12 even the darkness is not dark to you;

    the night is bright as the day,

    for darkness is as light with you.”

Do you see? Heaven (the highest of the high) or Sheol (the depths of Hell) or the depths of the sea or traveling on the wings of the morning. It doesn’t matter where you go – God is with you. I find that so comforting. Even in my lowest low, he’s with me. He sees me. There is nothing so dark or awful that it can chase him away. Not even in the belly of a fish. 

3. Your story for God’s glory.

I know we have all heard this but God can use our story for his glory. Jonah made a mistake. We all do it. I don’t know what your mistake looks like. Maybe it looks like a fish, but here is what I do know: God can use it. Not only did God use the smell and look and words of Jonah in Nineveh; but before Jonah even reached them he reached the sailors. If you read Jonah 1:10-16 you will notice that God uses Jonah’s disobedience to literally put the fear of God into these men’s hearts. Verse 16 tells us that “Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.” 

I don’t know what these vows were but I know that fearing the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). So they got wise and took vows and sacrificed to the Lord. That’s pretty cool. You messed up? Ok, well God can still use it. It won’t look the way you thought it would, but it’s not like you ruined his plan. He can still use you and your story for his glory if you will let him! 

4. Forgive freely & quickly.

It’s easy to see people doing wrong to someone else and hold onto it. Have you ever been in a situation like that? Maybe they didn’t hurt you directly. Maybe it wasn’t even intentional! But it affected you in some way and now you are holding onto pain and hurt. 

I had an instance like this once. Their actions caused me a lot of pain and hurt. Not because it directly hurt me, but because it caused me emotional hurt. The wisest thing was said to me by my husband “Hannah, their sin wasn’t against you.” Somehow it released me. The knowing that their sin was ultimately against God and they would have to stand before him someday and give an accounting. Gosh I don’t want to be that person. Yes it hurt me. I may not have been the intended recipient but I got to experience the results. 

Jonah had the same issue. He got to experience the effects of the sin of Nineveh. Maybe it wasn’t directly at him, maybe it was at his people, but I’m sure he felt it the same way we do. But God told him it was wickedness against God. The thing is that Jonah needed to forgive them for the effect it had on him but ultimately – it was God’s to forgive, he just couldn’t. This reminds me that there are times to forgive active and intentional sin and there are times we need to forgive people for the unintentional pain they cause us. 

So who are you not forgiving that you should be? If you are unsure, I would recommend looking at who you spend your time talking about or thinking about. That’s a pretty good indicator. Do you tend to focus on one person’s shortcomings more than another – well there is probably something there that you need to forgive. 

5. Stay in your lane.

One of the hardest lessons for people to learn is to stay in their lane. Jonah is a great example of this. He chose disobedience, which is sin. The ninevites were living sinful lives. Listen to me – sin is sin. It doesn’t matter what sin it is, there is no competition because it’s all sin in God’s eyes. Jonah forgot that and he acted like his sin wasn’t a big deal. That the sin of Nineveh was worse than his and should be punished more. 

One thing that I have had to learn, am still learning, is that it’s not up to me. There is a time to speak out against sin, a time to share truth in love and help set a person back towards God, but unless it’s the Holy Spirit moving you to do so – I would be very very careful. Jesus told us that we need to focus on the log in our own eyes versus looking at the speck in our brothers – meaning we should focus on fixing our own issues before focusing on someone else’s.

If you are reading this and thinking about how it applies to someone else, I would encourage you to stop and pray. Ask forgiveness and then ask God to reveal what you need to deal with. 

6. Don’t take the small miracles for granted.

In my previous post, I wrote about taking time to see the little things that God blesses us with daily. Much of that lesson came from Jonah’s story. His story is one that should encourage us to see God’s mercy and goodness each day. He was swallowed by a fish for heaven’s sake, and then after being forgiven, he followed his calling and then had a plant grow over him (over night)! 

Sometimes I think we get so focused on the wrong things that we forget to take inventory of the right things. What are the things that God has put in your life right now that are blessing you? What is a way that you could pour out that blessing onto others? 

7. Running Away Won’t Help. 

Have you ever tried to run away from your problems only to find that they follow you everywhere? I have. Sometimes we try to run away from our problems only to find that they stick with us. Why? Because we are the problem. Yeah – I don’t like it either but it’s true. The issue that caused Jonah to be swallowed wasn’t the ninevites. They may not have been good people or righteous, but it was his own choices that landed him in that spot. 

When he finally was forgiven and given mercy, he went right back to being angry and upset. It never left him. The only change we see is the scenery. Is that what’s happening with you? Did you just change the scenery out and think that things were going to be better? If you are still having the same issues but in different locations, I would recommend you pray and ask God to reveal to you what the root issue is. Until you can come to terms with it – it’s not going to change or go away. 

Conclusion: 

I know that was a lot to read and process. I appreciate you sticking with me through it. There is more to the story of Jonah than we can cover in one blog post so I would encourage you to read it by yourself. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the truth of his word, to open your eyes to see what he has to show you. Maybe it’s one of these lessons, maybe he wants to teach you something else. Stay sensitive and stay open – he will speak if we slow down and listen. But remember – if you listen then it’s probably wisest to obey!