The pouting prophet

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jonah 1-4; Psalm 129

TO CHEW ON: "But it (God's relenting from the disaster He said He would bring on Nineveh - Jonah 3:11) displeased Jonah exceedingly and he became angry." Jonah 4:1

At a church conference I attended some years ago, I heard Rich Wilkerson sum up each of the church offices in a catchy way.

Apostles: Entrepreneurs who start new things for God.
Evangelists: Salesmen—"You need Jesus."
Pastors: Encouragers—"Everything is going to be okay."
Teachers: Always looking for the teachable moment.
Prophets: Concerned with keeping things in the right category—"That's just not right!"

Isn't that last so Jonah! After preaching, he camped outside the city—his front-row seat for the fireworks—but they never came. And so he said to God (my paraphrase): I told you so! I knew Your merciful nature. That's exactly why I ran away to Tarshish—because I knew in the end You'd change Your mind.

Then God gave this pouting prophet an object lesson from his own reaction to circumstances. When a fast-growing vine sprung up providing shelter from the sun, he was happy. But when a worm nibbled at it till it died he had pity on the plant, simply because it affected his own comfort. In this way God showed him his shallowness and how very different Jonah was from God, whose compassion went way beyond a plant to embrace all people (as well as animals - Jonah 4:11).

How readily we too get hung up on our own ideas of how God should work and like Jonah get swept into self-righteous anger when things don't happen according to our little prophetic 'that's not right' categories. A sidebar article in my Bible leaves us with some advice on how to neutralize such an attitude:

"Do not allow anger or pride to remain in your heart. They led to Jonah's disobedience. Turn away from these attitudes, and seek to have God's character of mercy, grace, patience, forgiveness and lovingkindness" - Leslyn Musch, "Truth-In-Action Through Jonah," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1199.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to have Your heart of compassion and pity on the people around me in the spirit of being a fellow traveler. Help me to be a conduit of your mercy, grace, patience, forgiveness, and love to everyone around me. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 129

The Bible Project VIDEO: Jonah (Read Scripture Series)









MORE: God's patience with His Jonahs

"...God not only treats Nineveh with pity and mercy, but also treats his stiff-necked prophet that way too. He is slow to anger and ready to relent in his wrath toward Nineveh, and toward Jonah" - By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org. (Read all of "Should I not Pity That Great City Minneapolis.")

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Revelation through disappointment

Jonah and the vine

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jonah 4:1-11

TO CHEW ON: "So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city." Jonah 4:5

Jonah had done his bit. Now he made sure he had a front row seat for what would happen next.

And what did happen? Nothing!

A guest speaker at our church recently made this thought-provoking statement: "Whenever your experience doesn't live up to expectation, God is trying to give you a revelation"- Robert Madu

What revelation of God might Jonah get through his disappointment? One thing was surely that God was not only a God of black-and-white judgment, but that He was "gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness. One who relents from doing harm" - Jonah 4:2.

But wait, there's more. Jonah was delighted by the swift-growing vine that sheltered him from the sun. But when it died just as suddenly and he was subjected to the wind and sun, he mourned the vine's loss and wished for death for himself.

God brought to his attention how out-of-whack his values were. He was mourning the destruction of a vine, while hoping to see the destruction of an entire city including innocent children and animals.  His second revelation was how unlike God he was in his shallow self-centeredness.

Leslyn Musch says in her "Truth-In-Action Through Jonah" article:

"Jonah's faith in God was unwavering. He knew without a doubt who God was and that God would be true to His character. Transforming faith, however, is more than just knowledge about God. It changes us and molds us into the image of the One in whom we place our trust and it is expressed through our actions and our attitudes" - Leslyn Musch, "Truth-In-Action Through Jonah," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1200 (emphasis added).

In the area of transforming faith, Jonah didn't have it. But am I any better? Are you?  Don't we too often sulk when God does things differently than we expect? We too show off our faulty priorities when we are more preoccupied with our own comfort than the destiny of the souls of those around us. Sad to say, I detect more than a little of Jonah in me.

PRAYER: Dear God, as I learn about You, through happy and disappointing times, help me to incorporate these insights into my life. I want to pass the transformed-attitudes-and-actions test that separates head faith with lived-out faith.

MORE: What kind of plant was Jonah's vine?

The Quest Study Bible suggests the plant that grew overnight may have been a Castor Oil Plant which can reach a height of over twelve feet. However, its quick growth was miraculous--an act of God.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jonah's evangelistic success

Nineveh Repents - Nicolas Fontaine (1625-1709)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jonah 3:1-10

TO CHEW ON: "So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes." Jonah 3:5-6


Have you ever looked at a person or group of people and thought, They would never accept the gospel? Jonah's thoughts about the Ninevites probably ran along those lines. And yet no sooner did he start preaching than the people became filled with conviction and were visibly repentant. What was Jonah's secret?

Perhaps he was a really persuasive orator? Or maybe it was his appearance. I've heard it suggested that he was quite the sight, with bleached skin and white hair after three days of treading water in the fish's digestive juices. Perhaps his shocking appearance scared the people into paying attention?

It may have been a bit of both, but I believe there was something way bigger going on here—and that it was God the Spirit sending conviction to these hearts. He did something similar among the Jews when Ezra and Nehemiah read the Scripture scroll (Nehemiah 8:8-9) and in the crowd that Peter preached to on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:40-43).

And so Jonah's story can be an encouragement to us. For when God gives an assignment, we can be sure that He has and is working on the recipients of our mission, readying their ears and softening the soil of their hearts.  If our work meets with success it is due to this more than our strategies and efforts.

PRAYER: Dear God the Spirit, please help me to obey Your promptings so that Your work can be completed and I have the joy of being part of it. Amen.

MORE: Holy Spirit Rain Down (Hillsong Church)

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved

Fish-belly prayer

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jonah 2:1-10

TO CHEW ON: "'But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.'" Jonah 2:9

Our reading today is Jonah's desperate prayer for help from the belly of the fish. Interesting, isn't it, how he plotted to "flee...from the presence of the Lord" but now he begs for God's intervention, talking to Him as if He were very much present!

This is another of the great prayers of the Old Testament. Walter Brueggemann in his chapter on Jonah's prayer (Great Prayers of the Old Testament), points out several interesting things about it:

1. Jonah recognizes that even before his actual return to dry land the fish belly is part of his rescue and he thanks God for that - Jonah 2:2: "...the fish functions in the narrative as a liminal 'middle zone' between the great threat of the sea and the equally great safety of the dry land" - Walter Brueggemann, Great Prayers of the Old Testament, Kindle edition p. 60.

2. Despite his grim situation, Jonah seems unwilling to completely acknowledge his own responsibility for being there. He says, "'For You cast me into the deep..." (Jonah 2:3). Ahem, Jonah, wasn't it you who ran away from God, got on the ship and suggested the sailors throw you overboard? "To credit YHWH with the distress serves to exempt Jonah himself from responsibility..." Brueggemann, p. 62.

3. Jonah's poetic description of his plight (Jonah 2:4-6a) is an example of exaggeration—hyperbole: "The language of prayer is free to employ such hyperbole; it is the sort of regressive speech that we may use in contexts of acute danger and pain" - Brueggemann, 62.

4. Jonah acknowledges his "fox-hole religion": "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord" (Jonah 2:7).

5. He promises to do what God has asked and with a good attitude: "I will sacrifice to You / With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed" - Jonah 2:9

6. Despite his little side trips into self-justification (Jonah 2:3) and preachiness (Jonah 2:8), his main focus is God (Jonah 2:2-4, 6-7,9) and his prayer ends in thankfulness for his rescue before it is ever accomplished.

Let's gather a few principles for our own praying from Jonah's example:

• Our present setting—a hospital bed, a time of unemployment, a difficult season with a family member or whatever—may be a 'middle zone' for us too, i.e. part of God's rescue plan.

• We do well to ask ourselves, is there any self-deception in our attitudes or prayers?

• It's okay to tell God exactly how we feel.

• If we make promises in our fox-hole, let's keep them!

• Above all, let's focus on God who is greater than any pickle in which we'll ever find ourselves. As we do this our prayers will shift from reciting trouble to praise and thanksgiving for His rescue even before we actually reach "...dry land" - Jonah 2:10.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for very human Jonah and his prayer. Help me to be honest with You and myself, and to call out to You when I'm in trouble with the faith and God-focus Jonah showed. Amen.

MORE: Questions we can ask ourselves

I really like the three questions with which Walter Brueggemann ends this chapter—questions which warrant honest consideration within the privacy of our own hearts.

1. How can we pray in the midst of our disobedience?
2. From what will God deliver and rescue us?
3. How can we pray past our own self-deception?
- Brueggemann, p. 67.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Running away from God?

Jonah fleeing to Tarshish

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jonah 1:1-17

TO CHEW ON: "But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." Jonah 1:3


Did Jonah really believe that changing his location would get him out of God's sites? He certainly tried. A map of the Roman Empire shows Joppa and Tarshish (Tarsus) to be quite a boat trip away (one source estimated 225 Km.). 

My Bible's commenter on Jonah observes: "Jonah is trying to escape the presence of the Lord. This indicates that he had a very localized view of God's presence or perhaps a belief that the Spirit of prophecy would not follow him there" - Charles W. Snow,  commentary on Jonah, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1196.

Before we shake our heads and and smile knowingly at Jonah's foolishness, perhaps we should examine our own sensibilities. Though we may feel God's presence in church, do we realize that He also sees us / is with us when we are in places where His very existence is ignored or even denied—the neighborhood bar, a hockey game, a play or opera, the classroom?

Another time He may feel distant is when we're in trouble—on a back road at night beside our broken-down car, at the bedside of a loved one who is ill or badly injured, when we're opening yet another bill after the money is all spent...

God may feel absent but we can trust, with David that His awareness of us and presence with us doesn't waver by even a blink-second:

O Lord, you have examined my heart
    

and know everything about me.

You know when I sit down or stand up.
    

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.


You see me when I travel
    

and when I rest at home.
    

You know everything I do....


I can never escape from your Spirit!
    

I can never get away from your presence!


If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    

if I go down to the grave, you are there.


If I ride the wings of the morning,
    

if I dwell by the farthest oceans,


even there your hand will guide me,
    

and your strength will support me.


I could ask the darkness to hide me
    

and the light around me to become night—


but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.


To you the night shines as bright as day.


Darkness and light are the same to you" 

Psalm 139:1-3; 7-12 NLT  

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your continuous awareness of me. Help me to live in a way that acknowledges Your presence. Amen.

MORE: "He knows me"

In his chapter "Knowing and Being Known" (Chapter 3 in Knowing God), J. I. Packer makes this reassuring declaration:

"What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it—the fact that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him, because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters" - J. I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 41.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God wants YOU

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jonah 2:1-3:10

TO CHEW ON: "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message I tell you.'" Jonah 3:1,2

God went to great lengths to get just the person He wanted—Jonah—for the job of preaching to Nineveh. When this reluctant prophet ran the other way, God followed him. When the sailors tossed him into the sea, God protected him. From the belly of the fish, God heard him. When that fishy time-out was over, God talked to his host and the fish tossed him. Then God gave him a second chance.

I have found something similar about God's assignments. They come with a quiet but weighty persistence. My excuses don't sway Him. He just listens to them and then when I pray, Lord, give me something to do, whispers, I've already given you a job. Just go and do it.

But what if we feel we've really blown it and disqualified ourselves from ever being used by God again? Leslyn Musch reminds us we can:

"Ask God for a second chance. You may have disobeyed the Lord to the point you believe He can no longer use you. Look at Jonah! There is hope for you too. Ask God's forgiveness for your sin, submit to His will for you. Draw near to Him through worship; praise Him for His mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Tell Him you will follow Him full, and do it" - "Truth-In-Action Through Jonah," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1199.

Are you dithering over following through on a job God has given you, hoping, perhaps, that He'll change His mind and give it to someone else? You'd better not count on that. God has amazing tenacity (as Jonah would testify). If He's picked you as the person for a job, He wants you for the job. Better to obey than to hang back and find yourself in a Jonah spot.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for second chances. But it's probably better not to need them. Help me to listen and obey when You first give me a task to do. Amen.

MORE: The secret battle

"The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time. The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God; but it must be wrestled out alone before God, and I must resolutely go through the hell of a renunciation before God. Nothing has any power over the man who has fought out the battle before God and won there" - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, December 27th reading.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Extending mercy to your Nineveh

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jonah 1:1-17

TO CHEW ON: "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Ammitai, saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.'

But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." Jonah 1:1-3a

Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria—Israel's longstanding enemy. Various times in the Old Testament we see the Assyrians raiding Israel, ravaging the countryside, and taking its citizens captive. There was no love lost between Israel and Assyria.

Jonah, nationalist that he was, was obviously aghast at God's assignment. Perhaps his reluctance was tinged with fear for his own well-being. The Assyrians were not noted for their humane treatment of enemies.

But one gets the sense that he was mostly outraged that God wanted to share any part of Himself with his nation's rank enemy. That he, Jonah, would be an instrument in bringing such an intention to pass was, to him, unthinkable. And so he ran the other way.

It's worth stopping here and asking, but wouldn't God's righteousness and justice demand that the Assyrians be punished for their harsh treatment of Israel—the apple of God's eye? However, God, thankfully for us all, is not only just and righteous but also merciful. He wanted to give the Assyrians of Jonah's time an opportunity to repent.

It's easy to shrug off the story of Jonah as one of another era and so irrelevant to us. But wait. Is it really?

I'm reminded of Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch women who, years after her imprisonment in a German concentration camp, came face to face with one of her former captors—her Nineveh, so to speak. That day God asked her to extend mercy and forgiveness to him. She did, and came to a place of new freedom and understanding of God, who is not only just and righteous but also merciful.

I ask myself, what is my Nineveh? What is yours? Will we answer the call of God's heart to extend His mercy to it?

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your mercy to me. May my heart echo the merciful thrum of yours as I interact with those who have treated me badly. Amen.

MORE: Man Overboard by David Denny

California poet David Denny has written a wonderful book of poems about just this story. Man Overboard: A Tale of Divine Compassion (Wipf & Stock, 2013) does a wonderful job of exploring God's compassion (on Nineveh, the Assyrians and Jonah), and Jonah's outrage. My review of the book is HERE.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.