“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” (Jonah 2:8)

What do you cling to, Beloved?

Who do you trust?

God, of course!

And…?

Yeah, it’s the “And” that gets me, too.

What are your idols, Beloved?

Look, I know you don’t worship stuffed animals or pray to little porcelain figurines.

Please

But that doesn’t mean you don’t have idols.  And those idols, those things that you trust instead of trusting God, they get in the way. You see, you have to choose who you’re going to trust.  The Lord of the Universe is not big on sharing power. If you insist that you can make it on your own, he’s likely to let you.

And you’ve been down that road before.

Your strength, your money, your intelligence, your looks, your ability to make a really great chicken salad—enjoy them.  Use them wisely, and glorify God with them.

But don’t cling to them.

Don’t forfeit grace.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

“When my life was ebbing away I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you…”  (Jonah 2:7)

Imagine it.

You tread water for as long as you can, but then your strength is gone.

The water closes over your head.

You look up and see the light that you can no longer reach. It grows dimmer as you drop down and down, away from light and air and warmth and life.

Eventually…utter darkness.

But as you drift down, your prayers rise up.

And he hears you.  And he sends a fish to swallow you, which I gotta say is a really weird part of the metaphor, but it represents the whole rescue thing.

Sometimes God’s the only hope you have, and that’s when you remember:

He’s enough.

And then some.

And then some more.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.

He said, “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.  From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”  (Jonah 2:2)

Do you remember, Beloved?

Do you remember when you called out to him?

Do you remember the pit—so dark, so deep?

The despair was palpable.

The sorrow, tangible.

But he answered.

He listened.

Do you remember?

Let this be a day of remembrance, Beloved.  Drink deep of the memory. Let it roll around in your heart.  Taste its fullness. Then let it sink deep into your spirit, to refresh and sustain you.

Now you can look Today square in the eye.

Walk in confidence, Beloved.

Happy Tuesday

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God (Jonah 2:1).

We all need to take a break from the world from time to time, sort of get away from the busyness and reconnect with God.

You may go to the mountains

or to the desert

or just to a quiet room with a closed door

or…you know…a fish.

Sometimes we refuse to take that break, and God forces a rest upon us.

He might send an illness

or a layoff

or a flight cancellation

or…you know…

Jonah didn’t ask for the fish, as he didn’t ask for the storm or the mission to Nineveh.  But he recognizes the fish for the provision it is, and he uses the time to reconnect with God and get his priorities straight.

At least for the moment.

And what about you, Beloved?

When was the last time you got away from the Crazy—if only for a few minutes—to let God restore, re-center, reconnect you?  Are you taking time to fellowship with the One who loves you?  Because if you don’t, he will.

Because you are his Beloved.

Happy Monday

Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm…But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights  (Jonah 1:15-17).

Was it real?  Is Scripture literal here?

Well, the theotechnical answer would be…yeppers.

In Matthew 12, Jesus said, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Yeah, so, apparently Jesus believed it.

That’ll work for me.

What amazes me—apart from, you know, being stuck in a fish for three days and living to tell the tale (tail?)—is that God provided rescue in the midst of discipline.  I mean, God could have let Jonah drown—he deserved it—and then raised up someone else to preach to the Ninevites.  But God’s message of judgment, repentance, and mercy was played out in Jonah’s life before he ever even got to Nineveh.

Also worth noting is that Jonah did not experience that provision—that grace—until he accepted responsibility for his sin and stepped out in faith and obedience.  Perhaps the fish was there the entire time, but Jonah didn’t see it until he hit the water.

Last thought: did you notice that Jonah did not throw himself into the sea?  He asked the others to do it. Jonah knew what needed to be done, and he was willing, but it seems that the idea of leaping into the raging storm was a little much for him.  Spirit willing, flesh weak—that sort of thing.  I’m kinda glad about that.

It makes me think that there may be hope for us yet.

Happy Friday, Beloved.

The sea was getting rougher and rougher.  So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm.  I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you” (Jonah 1:11-12).

Wow.

Way to own it, Jonah.

We make so many excuses.  We give so many reasons to justify our actions.

Or our inactions.

I teach middle school.  Trust me, I’ve heard about every excuse there is.  Those lovely little…people…can shift the blame like nobody’s business.  Somehow, in their world, the responsibility for failing a test, not doing homework, chewing gum, talking out of turn, falls squarely on the shoulders of

Someone else.

It is refreshing when on occasion I meet a student—or an adult, for that matter—who is willing to stand up and take responsibility for their actions.

No matter the consequences.

Lord, I am like Jonah in so many ways–make this one of them.

It’s not the easy way, Beloved.

But it is The Way.

Happy Thursday

They asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do?  Where do you come from?  What is your country?  From what people are you?”

He answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea and the land” (Jonah 1:8-9).

He ran from God.

But…

He stood for God.

In the midst of the calamity that was his fault, surrounded by angry, frightened accusers pointing the finger at him, confronted by the disastrous results of his own disobedience, Jonah did not deny who he was or to whom he belonged.

Would we do as well, Beloved?

I hope so.

Happy Wednesday.

Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah (Jonah 1:7).

Casting lots seems to be the OT version of flipping a coin or rolling the dice.  The people of the time were much more open to the idea that some things were just beyond rational explanation. They used the casting of lots as a way for their “gods” to direct them. The Hebrews used it too, and God seems to have been OK with it. So, the pagans use their hokus-pokus random number generator to find out who is responsible for the crazy weather that is about to kill them all…

And it comes up “Jonah.”

Beloved, God can work any way He wants to. Sometimes he sends a prophet with messages and miracles and fire from heaven.

Sometimes it’s a bunch of sailors throwing the dice.

Look around you–how is God speaking in your life today?  Is it the gentle whisper of His Spirit? Is it the thunder of a storm?

Is it the homeless guy on the corner?

God gets to choose how he will speak to you today, Beloved.

You get to listen. 

Happy Tuesday

The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take note of us, and we will not perish (Jonah 1:6).

It’s kind of embarrassing when the pagan does it better than you do. This captain doesn’t know the One True God. He doesn’t understand His power, or His love, or His mercy. His experience of gods (or what he calls “gods”) is that they are fickle and unreliable.

But he knows that this is not the time to sleep. 

This is the time to act.

And he knows that this storm is beyond his power to survive without help.

This makes me think of a Keith Green song from back in the day. It is called “Asleep in the Light,” and some of the lyrics go like this:

Do you see, do you see all the people sinking down.

Don’t you care, don’t you care, are you going to let them drown?

God’s calling, and you’re the one, but like Jonah you run…

The world is sleeping in the dark that the Church just can’t fight

‘Cause it’s asleep in the light.

How can you sleep, Beloved? Get up and call on your God.

Happy Monday

But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep (Jonah 1:5).

Jesus could get away with this. He knew what he was doing, and, you know, he’s Lord of the Universe.

Not so much Jonah

How do you respond to God’s discipline, Beloved? What is your reaction when He’s trying to get your attention? Do you go to your knees in prayer and repentance, or do you curl up in a ball and try to nap your way through it?

Psychologists tell us that oversleeping is a sign of depression. So, maybe Jonah was depressed. Running from God could do that to you. Maybe he was “denial napping”–you know, when you have so much going on in your head and world that you just say “Stuff it–I’m going to sleep.” 

Maybe he was just plum tuckered out.

Whatever the reason, this was no time for sleep. This was a time to deal with the issue.

What do you say, Beloved? Are there areas of your life that you need to deal with before God? Are you taking care of business or are you “denial napping?”

May I suggest that you kick the covers aside, haul your bacon out of bed, and get to it?

Happy Friday, Beloved