Jonah

February 14, 2011 Monday Message:

About 200 years after David, and 800 years before Jesus, we find the minor prophet Jonah. Jonah is best known for being swallowed-up by a “greate fyshe” (Tyndale) when he chose to take himself out of God’s lineup. Let’s look at the story.

When God calls you, the right thing to do is to get going. When YHWH told Abram, “Go from your country … to the land I will show you,” Abram packed his bags. He didn’t need to consult anyone in his entourage. Even though Abram didn’t know the destination, he got going, because that’s what God said to do.

When God called Jonah to tell the people of Nineveh to repent and return to the Lord, he got going too. But Jonah’s fear sent him in the opposite direction! Jonah tried to hide from God. This gave God the opportunity to showcase his omniscience, his omnipresence and ultimately his sovereignty. Jonah could not hide from God, and from this we learn that you and I cannot hide either.

Jonah arranged passage on a ship that would take him as far from God as possible. But his disobedience angered God, and appeared to be the cause of the stormy seas. The sailors first tried everything they knew to save themselves, but nothing worked. Finally, as a last resort and following Jonah’s recommendation, they cast him into the sea to face certain death. The water immediately became calm, and the sailors, seeing this, became instant believers in the God of Israel.

Surprisingly, this was not the end for Jonah. God sent a big fish to scoop Jonah out of the water, and three days later the fish put Jonah on the beach, safe and sound.

In three days Jonah was saved by God’s action, and in three days we were all saved by God’s action. God often rescues us just when we need it.

There’s a lot of Jonah in each of us: uncertainty in answering God’s call, fear slowing us down, disobedience and sin, and the need to be rescued, i.e. God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Jonah was far from perfect, but God used him anyway. He can do the same with each of us.

Feliz dia de San Velentin!

Norton Lawellin

There’s a lot more to the story. I’ll fill in the holes at Chapel this Friday night at New Hope Center.