Christian Living

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Chapter 2 - Jonah: A message from the depths

Couldn't have been too comfortable in the belly of a huge fish. Definitely smelly, decidedly claustrophobic, desperately dark. To be fair to the man, he had had a better idea. He had planned to spend some time on the coast of Spain. He even took a ship in the right direction. But somewhere along the line things went horribly wrong.

Jonah, however, was in trouble long before he got tossed overboard and spent the week-end in the interiors of an enormous fish. His troubles started when he reacted to the Lord's voice. It wasn't that he had difficulties with his geography, he deliberately went in the opposite direction, to the other end of the known world.

His plan was simple. He was going to run away from the Lord. (Chapter 1, verse 3). The question is not why did he think he could run away from the Lord. His theology could surely could accommodate the omnipresence of the Lord God. In verse 9 we find him telling the terrified sailors that the Lord was the God of heaven who made the sea and land. His idea of God was, to this extent, perfectly Biblical. All the time he was aware that his God was too great to allow him to get away with this.

We tend to do the same thing. It's not that we don't believe in His omnipresence. In fact we would willingly sign a statement of faith affirming this and more. That's not the problem. Just let the Lord give you a command to do something or go somewhere and you'll find out just how ingenious you are in trying to flee from the Lord.

In his heart he knew his present undertaking was an impossible one. So why did he do it? Two reasons, I think, can explain his behaviour.

The first has to do with the content of the command. He was told to go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it. Jonah started shaking his head in defiance. "No way, Lord! I'll preach anything anywhere, but not this, there!" What he really wanted to say was that he would preach anything else, anywhere else. Sometimes we put limits on God's sovereign control, not unlike children who try to struggle against their parents when they're told to go to bed. The outcome is always going to be the same. The struggle just makes the point. That's what our friend Jonah wanted to do - make a point. He was a fiery little man with great passion and obviously a great preacher. But there was a certain resistance in regard to the people of Nineveh. We call it prejudice. That's a self - explanatory word that has "pre-judge" as its root. Old Jonah had something against the Ninevites. They were his enemies. They were - sshhh! - Assyrians!
They were the ferociously ruthless people who had done a lot of damage to a lot of people including Israel. If the Lord thought he was going to send a true-blue, die-hard Israelite like Jonah to a place like the capital city of those hateful Assyrians, forget it!

Then there was, of course, the fact that he was a Blower. It was normal for him to react immediately and strongly. His anger brought him into an over-reactionary situation with the Lord. The Lord told him to go right and he went left. He allowed himself to follow his feelings and they led him into trouble. No doubt he felt justified in choosing his course of action. But his decision was immediate and he took no time to think it through or pray it over. He just did it.



Sleeping through the storm

Jonah seems to either have been exhausted by his journey toTarshish, or completely undisturbed by his rebellion. He came from up North, from a little town called Gath Hepher, in the region of Galilee. Ah yes!, Galilee. That's where Jesus spent a lot of his ministry, but Gath Hepher is a lesser known name. It was a small up-in-the-mountains place where not a lot happened except maybe for the occasional tantrum thrown by an obstinate baby (Not thinking of anyone in particular!) Jonah's dad was Amittai, but we don't know his mother's name. We do know they had a sense of humour. They named their little boy, "Jonah" which means "dove".

Assuming that he was still living at home, he would have walked about sixty miles to get to Joppa, a more southerly port that did ancient Mediterranean cruises. When I was a boy we used to do sponsored walks with various youth organizations. For some reason, a sixteen mile walk was the traditional thing to do. I remember how weary we felt and how glad we were to get home. Jonah, poor man, had to walk about four times as far to get to where he wasn't supposed to be going!

I imagine he breathed a big sigh of relief as he finally got on to the boat and went downstairs to find a comfortable place to get some rest. He hadn't been struck down or stopped on the road by an angel (that we know of!), so presumably he thought that things might go alright in his bid to escape the Lord God. Hopefully by now He had given up on Jonah and found somebody else.
Not on your life Jonah!

As the boat got into the deeper waters, the weather changed for the worse. Although the Mediterranean climate on the whole is quite hospitable, when there is a storm you know all about it. The sailors were no doubt experienced in these things, but this was no ordinary storm. This was the Lord looking for his prophet. Things got serious. It seemed that they were going to lose the ship. The sailors panicked and cried out to their various gods. It's amazing just how religious people get when they are desperate. Anyway, there were no gods listening at that moment, so they had to use their own intelligence. They threw the cargo overboard in order to lighten the load, but still they had a desperate situation on their hands.

Just then the captain remembered that one of their guests wasn't anywhere to be seen. He rushed downstairs and frantically beseeched this idiot to waken up and call on his god. Everybody else had tried theirs and there was no answer. Up on deck, the crew had definitely decided that it was a religious problem. Somebody had obviously disobeyed their god and they were being punished - and everybody else besides! Well they did what they believed they had to do; they cast lots. The gods would surely sort out whose fault it was. These men hadn't a clue who they were really dealing with but they were about to find out.

The lot fell to our friend. "YOU!", cried the captain. "What on earth have you done? Who are you? Where do you come from? More importantly, who is this god that could create such a storm?" Confession time.

Jonah saw that he had to own up. The Lord God was his employer. Not only was He the Lord God of Israel, He was lord of heaven and earth. This really shook the sailors up. "You mean you actually work for the One who did all this? Now what are we going to do?" Jonah knew what had to be done. "You've got to throw me overboard," said Jonah, "That way, the storm will stop and your ship will be safe." Now this put them in a real spin. If the Lord was powerful enough to command the elements, what would He do to them if they threw one of His prophets into the open sea? So they tried bringing their boat into land. No chance. Jonah insisted, "Listen folks, forget it. The only way this storm is going cease is if you throw me into the sea." This time they listened. The situation, when you think about it, is almost comical. Here is a man trying to convince a bunch of frightened sailors to throw him overboard! They yelled one last prayer, and in he went. Immediately the wind stopped wailing, the rain stopped beating and the sea was as calm as a summer's day. The ship's crew gasped in wonder and got out whatever there was left to sacrifice and they had an impromptu worship service on deck.

In spite of Jonah's disobedience, the Lord used him to glorify Himself. That's what He does. He turns ashes into beauty and personal tragedy into glory for Himself. "Be glorified in my life Lord" is a prayer which He will always take seriously.

Well, that wasn't the end of Jonah. Far from it. The Lord had prepared a personal taxi for him. Only this taxi wasn't going straight to it's destination. It had to take a protracted detour for a few days. This taxi was a huge fish, probably a blue whale or a shark whale, that had the displeasure of, at the risk of acute indigestion, swallowing a man whole. Some people doubt that this could have ever taken place, but then again, some people don't know that the Lord can do as He chooses, just as the sailors didn't. I call this phenomenon selective unbelief, because the same people who have difficulty in believing an incredible story from the Bible, eagerly accept sightings of UFO's or the predictions of a popular astrologer.

However, on with the story. Chapter two of his fascinating booklet contains a prayer that Jonah prayed from the depths of the ocean. It was a prayer of thanksgiving and affirmation. After such a traumatic near - death event, Jonah was thankful to be alive. He admits that when his soul was faint he remembered the Lord. He was a hard - headed man and even here in his prayer there is only a hint of remorse for what he had done in running away from the Lord and not taking his responsibility seriously. At some point in the past Jonah had said "Yes!" to the Lord. He had responded to the call of God to be a prophet, so he was obliged by his allegiance to the Holy One
to obey his orders. That included even the ones he didn't like.

Chapter two finishes with the fish feeling ill and consequently bringing up his dinner from three days before. Jonah was that happy man who presumably got as far away as possible, as quickly as he could, - he was probably half dead - from his practically beached predator.

Some time later, when he had recovered, the Lord spoke to him again. "Let's try this again Jonah. I want you to get up and go to Nineveh. Yes, you heard, Nineveh. And I want you to preach the message I give to you. Now what part of that did you not understand?" This time the message got through. This time there was no resistance. He went "according to the word of the Lord." Good choice Jonah.

So off he went. Now Nineveh was a huge city built by Sennacharib, a particularly cruel Assyrian king who felt the need to construct a capital city which reflected the greatness of the kingdom. It took three days to do a tour of the city; there was a lot to see and do in Nineveh. But Jonah's job description didn't include sight-seeing. He was there on some very important business. Somewhere between Israel and Iraq, the Lord had given him the message just as He had promised. He was to go to Nineveh and tell them that if they didn't repent they would be destroyed within forty days. Now Jonah must have been a very effective communicator because the message went straight to the heart of the people. To his disgust, they all started repenting and he had only gone through one third of the city. He had been instrumental in a revival! One might be forgiven for thinking, "But isn't that a contradiction in terms?" Surely that was why he was there! And it wasn't just a handful of religious people, it was everybody. Right from the most humble to the king himself! In fact, the king proclaimed a national fast. Everybody had to wear sackcloth, even the animals. Putting on sackcloth and not eating were ways of expressing sorrow for sin. The king's intention was that the Lord would hear them and not destroy them. This was no whim on the king's part. He urged the people to call on God and give up their evil ways and violence. These people knew what it meant to repent.

Chapter three finishes with the Lord having compassion on them. Well done good and faithful prophet! Jonah's work paid off and he had remarkable success. But that's not the end of the story.
In chapter four we see Jonah dealing with some things in his own life and the Lord dealing with him too....


Jonah's true colours come to the fore...

Jonah was fuming! But this time he seems to have learned something. Instead of going immediately in the other direction he addresses the issue. It's just that in doing so, he also opens his heart. He prayed to the Lord, that is, he told the Lord exactly what he thought. "I knew it all along! That's why I didn't want to come here in the first place. I should have stayed at home. I knew you were going to forgive them. That's just who you are! So that's it! I'm out of here!"

Our friend was angry because what he had predicted in his heart had come true. He "knew" certain things about his God that he was none too happy about. He was slow to get angry and he had so much love that it just overflowed. He even relented from sending calamity. This didn't go down too well with Jonah. He wanted a god who would do what he wanted; somebody who could be manipulated. Certainly not someone who forgave his worst enemies. Jonah had sunk as low as he could possibly go when he tried a line that his great predecessor, Elijah, had used before him: "Now, O Lord, take away my life , for it is better for me to die than to live."

The Lord's answer went right to the heart of the problem:"Have you any right to be angry?"

Jonah was busy complaining about things the Lord had no right doing when the Lord turned it about and questioned him on his rights. One's right to be angry is something that we seldom if ever think about. We take it for granted. When the anger surges within us we are right and that's that.

In today's world rights are very important. We have all kinds of rights and often people feel so strongly about them that they are prepared to go on public marches, protest and generally let others know that they have their rights and woe betide anyone who wishes to trample on their toes. People's rights have become the absolutes by which they live. The louder you shout the more right you are. In this kind of world everything is judged by subjectivity and the truth becomes whatever you want it to be. Situation ethics and the philosophy of "If it feels good, do it" are the order of the day. Of course one can understand why this is popular. It sounds sophisticated and is therefore socially exceptable. It also means that you can do whatever you feel like doing and it's okay. It's the old idea of freedom. Somehow Jonah got mixed up in this too.

Let's put it another way. Jonah felt that he was justified, not only in feeling the way he felt but also in acting upon his feelings. There is something fundamentally twisted in this way of thinking. It is a point of view which is exclusively selfish. Jonah thought he was way ahead of the Lord - and told Him so. He was momentarily blinded by his prejudices. There was a miracle happening around him and he was too busy being angry to see it. What our dear friend didn't understand was that God was bigger than his vision and His love was deeper than his anger.


Jonah's super - plant.

Jonah just wasn't getting the message, so the Lord thought a practical illustration might do the trick. He was fed up with life and he was getting uncomfortable in the sun. He hadn't chosen a very shady place probably because when you are angry, things like that don't matter. "I don't care. I'm so angry I could die." He took his anger out on a make-shift shelter. He probably didn't have his tool-kit handy so it would have been very basic. So he suffered as the sun began to stream through the palm branches and get the back of his neck. No sun block around. The last pharmacy was back in Nineveh and he certainly wasn't going back there. Things got to the point when his head started spinning and his lips were drying up. Sun - stoke was on its way. The Lord, apart from the fact that He wanted to help His disillusioned prophet with his theology and his personal problems, had mercy on him. Much like Elijah who was given bread and water to aid him when he was at exhaustion point, Jonah needed to be ministered to, and the Lord was right there.

In a strange way it is encouraging to see God's great men being just what they are - ordinary people. There is always a temptation to think of God's men and women as being in possession of supernatural status. Coming from this is then the tendency to expect extraordinary things from them. This sounds great and all very spiritual and even appealing to the spiritual pride of the minister. What it means in practical terms however are unrealistic working hours and tremendous pressure to succeed. If the man succumbs to this call, he will soon be a candidate for nervous exhaustion, family breakdown, heart attack or something of that genre.

This is not the Lord’s plan. He had a great idea. First of all He established the principle, and the principle was so good that He made it into a commandment. In creating the Universe, He worked for six days and He was very happy with His work. He didn’t even take Saturday off! But then He added another day on to the week and said it was to be a holy day (you know, like holi - day, a day off). Later when He gave His general rules for living He said it was to be a day set apart. His day. His idea. His commandment.
God has built into us a rythym of rest and work. If we get too much of one and not enough of the other, we do damage to our system. In these last years, these values have been challenged with disastrous consequences - naturally. Even in the church - maybe especially in the church - we have been putting tremendous stress on the family and breaking the backs of the full-time workers. If someone suggests that they need a holiday, they have to first get past the unapproving glares and the self-inflicted guilt trip before they can think about going down, heavily disguised, to the travel agents. His heart will then miss a beat if someone should happen to see him coming out with a coloured brochure in his hand. “Just doing some research for a study I’m doing with the youth, you know!”
Of course we’re not suggesting that we follow Jonah’s choice and run away in the other direction. Neither do we support the idea that the pastor becomes bionic at his induction. Balance is the key; that elusive quality which we all require to live long and sensibly. In that way we will be able to bring more glory and bear much fruit.

Back to the plant. The Lord made it grow at a terrific rate. Jonah was delighted. He could just feel the benfit as the vine crept over him. He was feeling better already. Not only had he vented his anger, this incredible vine was rapidly progressing over his head and providing lots of lovely shade. As the evening drew in he started making plans for his return trip. Certainly not by way of a fish; perhaps a leisurely group of camels going in the right direction. The thought had crossed his mind that going home he might be greeted with some like-minded people who were angry about the Lord relenting on the Ninevites and therefore angry with him. So he was in no hurry to get back.

Things took a turn for the worse the next morning. While Jonah was still fast asleep, the Lord was busy with a vine-eating worm. The Bible says that the Lord provided it. That was the third time the Lord had provided something for Jonah on this particular missionary journey, all from the realm of nature - the fish, the vine and now the worm. The little creature made short work of the vine. By the time the sun rose, the plant was withered and the Lord had provided yet another servant of His will, a scorching east wind.

I lived in Sicily for a number of years. That's the little misshapen football at the toe of Italy's boot. It is actually only eighty miles from North Africa and therefore is subject to similar elemental influences, in this case, hot weather and hot winds. Frequently during the summer and occasionally throughout the year, you can experience Jonah's wind - the Scirocco.

Although this is actually a South wind, it is sometimes called the East wind which is what it's called here. When it arrives the best thing to do is close all windows and doors in your house and don't go out if possible. It is like walking into a hot hair dryer. This makes breathing difficult and fresh air impossible. Poor Jonah didn't even have any windows to shut. He took the full blast of the Scirocco. Down he went. Same song, second verse. "That's it. I've had enough. I'd be better off dead." It is improbable that he was really suicidal. It was just spouting and griping about his predicament. The Lord didn't question his intentions for the future. Once again, He went straight to the heart of the problem. "Do you have any right to be angry about the vine?"

This was the point of the whole operation . It also served as the unlikely conlusion to our record of Jonah's prophecy and problems. It was certainly quite an adventure, and it leaves us with a lot of questions:

"What happened to Jonah after that?"
"Why are we left in mid-air?"
"Did he ever resolve his problems with anger?"

These are an example of the most obvious. But having lived with this man for the four chapters of his own book and this one of the present book, perhaps we can afford ourselves of the privilege suggesting a few lessons from Jonah's mistakes...

Denial

We're not talking here about the virtue of self - denial. We are dealing rather with the problem of a person who refuses to accept the realities of their lives.

I remember a man who had a serious problem with anger. I knew it, he knew it, his family knew it and everybody else who knew him knew that he was an angry man, that is, someone whose every reaction was expressed with anger. We confronted him with this in order to help him work through it. He denied it angrily.

Jonah, it seems, tried to deny that he had a theological problem. He was a prophet. He wasn't supposed to have theological problems. He couldn't come to terms with the fact that the Lord was a forgiving God to the point of forgiving even people that Jonah considered unforgivable. So he put it under his hat and ran away so that he wouln't have to face it.

In the course of his adventure he learned that God is more concerned about people - and prophets - than he is about anything else. He is prepared to go to any length to insure that his people become what He wants them to be - unhampered by sin, sold on glorifying God and bearing fruit for him, and more than anything, just like His Son.

God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach a message. That much is obvious. But more than work through his life, He wanted to work in his life. He wanted Jonah to come to terms with his anger. I think it is safe for us to assume that He would desire that for us too. He drew it out of Jonah. He made him face the reality of his own life. That's always a painful operation but to the Lord, pruning is priceless. He wanted him to be angry in the right measure about the right things. We will see more of this in the next chapter.


Diffusing

Bombs are always dangerous, but they can be rendered harmless if they are diffused. Having grown up in Northern Ireland, this was something learned by experience, albeit from a distance. In the same way people who have problems with anger, whether excessive or buried, whether boilers or blowers, do not need to remain so all their lives. In Christ there is freedom. Paul says that we are set free to be free. (Galatians5:1) We are no longer to be burdened by the yoke of slavery. While one may feel a certain freedom in blowing up, he is allowing himself to be controlled by his emotions. In this way he is a slave.

Diffusing the bomb, whether the fuse be short or long, is something we can only do effectively when we face it in the power of the Spirit of Christ and lay it at the feet of Christ. This may mean walking with our friends or spouses or family or pastor, into our past and taking the bandages off the festering wounds. It may mean reconciling with someone against whom you have held a grudge and asking forgiveness. Whatever it means, it will surely mean humbly laying our hearts bare before our loving Shepherd and allowing Him to reconstruct and reshape our lives. Doing so our anger, along with all our other emotions, will be placed in equilibrium and we will thus be able to reflect better the perfect character of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

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