My reading took me unexpectedly to Jonah today. Since it is such a short book, I decided to read it all. It is an amazing story and has many childhood associations for me. But I tried to read it from a fresh point of view today, and after all it wasn't that hard to do.
My fresh point of view came from a feeling of peevishness. I had been sick the last couple of days, running a fever and feeling decidedly icky. I am just beginning to feel better but my attitude today is full of self pity. This was a perfect way to approach this book in the Bible from Jonah's point of view it seems.
Jonah is a somewhat childish character really. He doesn't want to do what God asks of him, so he runs away. Then, when the storm rises he says dramatically "Just throw me overboard! It's all my fault anyways." In the belly of the great fish, he seems to grow up a bit and thanks God for His deliverance. But in doing this, Jonah reminds me of my kids when I would relent and give them something. "Oh thank you, thank you! You are the best Mom Ever!" Their feelings of gratitude wouldn't last long most of the time. It didn't last very long with Jonah either.
Once Jonah gets back to dry land, he decides maybe he better do what God said. So he walks into Nineveh and begins to preach to them the message God sent him with. And when the people believe him and begin to repent and ask for God's forgiveness, Jonah leaves the city and goes up on a high hill to watch what will happen to them. When nothing happens, Jonah tells God that he didn't want to come preach to Nineveh because he knew that God would forgive them all anyway. How silly! Isn't that the point? His attitude is "See I told you so!" "Why did you even send me then" he fusses. He speaks to God in such a peevish, childish way: The God who created the whole universe, who sent him on a special important mission, didn't kill him when he ran away from it, prepared a great fish to save him from drowning, and had mercy on a whole city full of sinners. Wow!
It is a testament to a Loving and Forgiving God that He doesn't just kill Jonah right then and there. Instead He sends a gourd plant to shade him. Jonah is tickled pink that God is taking care of him! But the next morning the plant withers and the scorching wind blows and Jonah begins to fuss again. "I might as well die!" he says. Have I ever felt like that? Yep! Just this morning when I was being overly dramatic about all the house work that had piled up over the last few days! We all act childishly sometimes, just as Jonah did.
But the wonderful part of this story is that God used Jonah anyway. He ran away, and God used him to convert a whole boat load of scared sailors. He walked sullenly into town to deliver God's message and God used him again to convert that whole city of sinful people. God just needed Jonah to speak a few words to that huge city and a big change took place. Even afterwards, when he was so critical of God's salvation (apparently it was ok for God to save Jonah with a huge fish, but not to save that city full of people), God still cared enough to send him an object lesson. The book ends with God pointing out that Jonah was upset about the death of a mere plant, when God was concerned with the lives of so many people including 120,000 innocent children and even the animals that lived there as well. And since the book ends there, we can conclude that Jonah may finally have gotten the point.
From Jonah's story this morning I gathered a very clear picture of the wonderful Love and Caring that our Gracious Creator has for us. I am also reminded that God can use us no matter how childish we seem to ourselves, how deep we have sunk into self pity or how ill-prepared we might feel. He has the power to transform lives and He chooses to use us as His emissaries, flawed though we might be. How truly amazing God is!
"For who hath known the mind of the Lord?"
(Romans 11:34)