”But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.” Johnah 1:3
The second chapter of the book of Jonah ends with the dramatic line: “And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” That’s quite the mental picture. Jonah doubled over, taking mental note of what happened physically because he could see the physical evidence of the ordeal and deep down knowing it was due to the rebelliousness of his heart.
The book of Johah is short, but it’s not short of drama. God calls Jonah. Jonah rebels. Jonah has a tantrum. God gently calls Jonah’s attention back to the fact that He is love and compassion and desires to save all people from sin. He also shows Jonah how He can and will use anything, a storm, a fish, a plant, and even a worm to get our attention.
I think a lot of times Jonah gets judged harshly. Personally, I think Jonah gets a bad name. Hear me out. He gets a bad name because we don’t want to admit we see ourselves in him at times. We prefer to think we are above such dramatic behavior. We wouldn’t treat God that way. Jonah is a pictorial representation of our fickle humanity. Remember, between the Israelites and the Ninevites, there were a lot of cultural dynamics at play in this story that we’re far removed from today. The real reason I think Jonah gets shamed is because we think we are above such tantrums. We are too proud to admit when we, to use quotes from Jonah, “run away from God” or “flee from God”.
I am not suggesting that all of us have purchased a ticket and sailed away from our call at a certain point in our lives. We might not have a fish’s stomach acid staining our clothes as a testament to our foray into rebellion town. It doesn’t have to be that dramatic to parallel the same heart-condition though. A heart the rebels against God, even if we are walking with God, is a heart that displays self-interest over God’s interest.
Jonah went a preached after his time in the fish, and then he pouted again, and God spoke with Jonah again. So, I am not suggesting that we are walking completely away from God, but in a specific area we may be holding back refusing to allow God full lordship. He might be saying, “let’s go deeper”, and we reply, “this shallow spot it just fine, thanks though”.
Perhaps like Jonah found himself physically vomited out on the shore, spiritually, we find ourselves doubled over, squinting at the horizon, finally able to see the sky past the dank walls of our dark abode and realize, we’ve been in a mess because we didn’t trust God to be good to us in the process of His plan to be good to others.
As mentioned, there were many cultural and historical things going on which caused some of Jonah’s opposition to God’s desire for him to minister to Ninevah. There are many things that we face too that play a role in our rebellion to God’s good plan for those around us. The qualms
we have may not be as strong as the ones between a Hebrew and a Ninevite, but we still have troubles.
We rationalize it like this: I can’t shine God’s light to “those people” because I have been hurt by them, disrespected, embarrassed, humiliated, falsely accused. I’d be too vulnerable. There’s too much history, too many strong feelings, too many barriers.
As we see from Jonah three, God can reach anyone, and He wants to use us and transform us in the process. All the excuses we give for running away from His plan fall flat, because the same God who wants to reach others with the truth of Jesus wants to heal us from all sorts of pain, through the power of Jesus, while we minister in the name of Jesus. Every excuse we conjure to rebel against God’s redeeming work in a really hard area will eventually dissipate when we cling to Him and trust Him to make all things good in His timing. We trust Him when we KNOW Him.
We don’t know what happened after God gently chastens Jonah and expressed His heart of unimaginable love and grace. I know, in my experience, I am renewed with gratitude. The words of Luke 19:40 come to mind, “I tell you,”he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” God doesn’t have to wait on my fickle human heart to see His goodness and give Him his rightful praise. Nature shouts His praise. The seasons, the celestial bodies, the animals of the fields, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the innumerable angles of heaven all join a chorus of praising His majesty. And yet, despite all those deserved accolades, my God, nay, my sweet, sweet Father, still gently chastens my heart to trust in Him, to believe His ways are better, to trust He is weaving threads of beauty through times of pain and painting a masterpiece from ashes, and He woos me to Himself in perfect love and grace.
The reason we judge Jonah so harshly is because we don’t want to see our own fickle humanity reflected in him. How small and foolish we feel, spiritually speaking, when we’ve been vomited from the fish. However, I choose to be exceedingly grateful that God doesn’t leave us to drown in our rebellion, but He sends the fish, and He commands it to release us. His divine masterpiece is redeeming messes that we create. There is beauty in that fish’s vomit, if we know where to look. It’s a symbol of God’s undeserved favor- a second chance. God saves us from ourselves, and He gives us another chance to join Him in His work that testifies to His great love.
