The story of Jonah is one of the most familiar ones in the Bible. The message is shallow enough for children to wade in its waters, but deep enough to challenge the most mature follower of God.
The first three verses are dense with information about God’s activity with humans.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying,
“Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
But Jonah set out 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 his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1.1-3).
In these verses, we learn that God is a distinct, personal Being who interacts with us. His word came to Jonah calling for action.
Henry Blackaby tells us, “When God gives us a word, it is not like some ‘warm fuzzy’ we find in our pocket.” His word demands action.
Jonah understood that God sending him to Nineveh had only one purpose: to forgive the wicked capital of Assyria. A modern-day author, who wrote about the Assyrian warfare, mentioned that the atrocities committed were so extreme that he wouldn’t put them in print.
The prophet knew that God sent men like him to warn people of His judgment, allowing them to repent and receive forgiveness.
However, the man of God was unwilling to be obedient to the God he served. He did what rebels in God’s kingdom do and tried to get as far away from God’s compelling voice as possible.
A Humiliated Prophet
The Book of Jonah is a piece of ancient literature. The ancients always painted their heroes in glowing colors.
The heroes of the Bible, especially Jonah, do not follow this pattern. Although the story of Jonah is written in the third person, Jonah himself likely narrated it, openly revealing his many shortcomings.
But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up.
Then the sailors were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.
The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up; call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish” (Jonah 1.4-6).
The winds of trouble are blowing and God’s servant is sleeping. It takes a worldly ship captain to awaken God’s prophet and call him to action.
Not too long ago, it dawned on me that I worry more about the won/loss record of the Kansas City Chiefs than I do about the state of the world.
If you are like me, let’s ask ourselves some questions. Are we more interested in a sport than we are with the wind and waves that trouble millions of humans?
Can we take the time to learn about the plight of people who live outside of our small circle of concern and ask God how to pray for them?
Jesus asked His close followers, “Can you not pray with me for one hour?” (Matthew 26.40). Can we not join Jesus and pray with Him for the world’s needs?
Do we need a salty ship’s captain to remind us of our responsibility to the Lord and His world?
What Have You Done?
It is both humiliating and damaging to the cause of God’s kingdom for His servants to be shown in a worse light than that of so-called “sinners.”
The sailors turned to their gods, while God’s representative was running from his obligations.
The sailors said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
Then they said to him, “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” (Jonah 1.7-8)
In today’s age, investigative reporters have replaced the sailors. They ask penetrating questions that assume God’s servants are exhibiting God’s characteristics of righteousness and justice.
The crisis in the boat revealed Jonah’s rebellion against the character of God. At the same time, God’s reality was evident to all.
“I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!”
For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so (Jonah 1.9-10).
The sailors believed that the sea and wind were gods to be placated. Jonah declared that he served the One True God who created the earth and sea.
I’m sure the sailors wondered why someone who served such a great God would choose to refuse His commands. Unfortunately, that is what the world thinks about Christians when we fail to live up to God’s standards.
Every time a highly visible Christian leader stumbles and falls, there are two casualties. The faith of people who trusted their message falls with the leader they admired.
A skeptical world sees the failings of one Christian leader after another and says, “See, I told you it was fake. It was all about power and money.”
BBC News has investigated the Nigerian pastor, TB Joshua, who was until his recent death a leader in one of the world’s biggest evangelical churches with 50,000 in attendance on Sundays.
The BBC headlines read that Joshua “secretly committed sexual crimes on a mass scale, a BBC investigation spanning three continents has found. Testimony from dozens of survivors suggests Joshua was abusing and raping young women from around the world several times a week for nearly 20 years.”
This is one of the most disturbing articles I have read, but unfortunately, it is not the only occurrence of Christian leaders who are supposed to exhibit Christ’s character not doing so.
Rightfully, the non-Christian world looks at this kind of behavior and asks, “If what you say about God is true, why don’t you live like it?”
As you know, there is more to Jonah’s story. One of the major lessons from Jonah is, “Don’t be like him.”
Let’s determine today to be like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let’s determine to exhibit His character of love, grace, forgiveness, righteousness, and justice.
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross and I discuss this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
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