When Pastor Steve told me he would be preaching on Jonah after he wrapped up the book of Romans a couple of months ago, I had the feeling this book from God’s Word would be applying to me. Turns out I was right.
We’re awfully hard on Jonah aren’t we. Even non-Christians can tell us about “the man who ran” or “Jonah and the Whale” and put a negative connotation to him. We look at Jonah and equate him with out right defiance towards God, and remember that God “punished” him for his defiance. It’s enough to make any sinner quake in his boots if he or she would give the history of God’s Word more credit than a mere children’s story.
I feel for Jonah, and realize much of my situations relates to his. Recently opportunities have come up that have blind sighted me. I have a successful job, one where I am trusted, not micro-managed, make a decent wage, and I’m doing what I love. Such was the case with Jonah, he had a successful ministry, when he spoke, people listened, and he was doing just fine in his career as a prophet until one day God blind sighted him as well.
God told Jonah to head to Ninevah and cry out against it, to leave his comfort zone and cry out against a city that was wicked and needed to repent in order to escape the judgement of God, but they had to be warned of their sins, and Jonah was the man for the job. The thing was, Jonah HAD to do what he didn’t want to do in order to do the job. It cost him some pride, some discomfort (can’t imagine how comfortable being slowly digested by a fish just big enough to swallow you would be) diving into the unknown and his own understanding.
Now I have been faced with a situation in which I am VERY uncomfortable, I am afraid, panic overwhelms me on nearly a daily basis in this new situation that I believe God has called me too. I believe I am obeying God’s will, but I do not understand why. It makes me sick that I am so apprehensive on a daily basis, but as I learned today, it is not necessary that I understand the situation, just that I obey what I believe God’s will is.
Jonah did the same, once he was vomited by the fish, he went after his job with all he could. Deep in his heart, he didn’t understand why God cared so much for these people, but Jonah obeyed, with very little of his own wisdom factoring into his decisions.
I hope I get it right, not making a terribly rash decision in a heat of panic, but I’m obeying…and for now, I pray that is all that’s required of me, not my understanding, and certainly not my emotion. God help me love what He has given me to do. Right now I’m just so uncertain….
