Category: Jonah

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

All the sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god.  And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship (Jonah 1:5).

What a sad picture.

Frantic men, faced with a problem that was way beyond them.

Calling out to gods that are not God.

Attempting to solve a spiritual crisis by worldly means.  Hurting themselves because worldly wisdom says it will help.  Because that’s all they know.

That used to be us, Beloved.

Sometimes, it still is.

I’m going to avoid the “Storms of life” metaphor.  It’s already in your head anyway. Let me just remind you of this: You know the false gods you called on in the past, and you know they were powerless.  As for fixing things yourself…well…you remember how that worked out.

But you are no longer that person. Now, you know who to cry out to.  You know who can rescue you. And you know that Pride is the only thing keeping you from calling for help.

Pride, threatening to drag you to the bottom of the metaphoric ocean.

Throw that nasty little piece of cargo overboard and call out to Him, Beloved.

He’s waiting for you.

Happy Thursday.

Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid… (Jonah 1:4-5).

The Law of Unintended Consequences.

I’m sure that Jonah wasn’t trying to put a bunch of pagan sailors in jeopardy.

I’m sure he wasn’t thinking about them at all.

He was just…running.

But when you run from God, when you deliberately put yourself outside of His will, stuff’s gonna happen.  You put yourself and others in situations that God never intended for you. Sin is like a nuclear blast, with fallout that you can neither predict nor control.

Bottom line—your sin is not just your own.  People can get hurt because of your disobedience.

Time for a heart check, Beloved.  Are there areas in your life you need to fix, sins you need to confess, attitudes you need to repent of?

Because you know, people are getting wet.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

But Jonah ran away from the Lord…  (Jonah 1:1-3)

I talk a good game.

I say that I wish God would just be clear, tell me exactly what he wants of me.

And yet…

You know what I’m talking about.  You’re praying, asking for God’s guidance, and you get an answer.  A full-blown, here’s-what-I-want-you-to-do-Kid sort of answer. You know it in your heart.

But…

It’s not the answer you wanted.

In fact, it’s totally wrong.

So you run.

Oh, you may not hop a ship to Tarshish, but you run.

Why is it that when we say “Thy will…” we usually mean, “My will…?”

Because…you know…human.

Beloved, let’s try a little experiment.. Let’s pray that God would use us—no strings attached.  However, wherever and with whomever he chooses. Let’s lay ourselves at his feet and await his command. And then let’s follow.

Yeah, I know it’s a scary concept, but we trust him.

Right?

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

The Lord said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow…but Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well.  Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:10-11)

Ouch.

Sometimes, it’s just too much for me.

The heart of God, I mean.

My world is so small, the things that affect me so close, I forget that God cares about the whole world.

All of it.

Even the cows.

I am important to him, yes.

So very important.

But so are the others.

There are, quite literally, millions upon millions of people out there who are living without Christ, who don’t know right from wrong because they have never been introduced to Truth.

And my biggest worry today is how I’m going to get to Costco and the DMV after work and still have time to deal with the pile of tree branches in my yard.

I’ve always wondered what Jonah’s response to God’s question was.  Did getting a peek into the scope of God’s love change his perspective?

Does it change mine?

Happy Friday, Beloved.

But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” 

“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”  (Jonah 4:9)

Wow, Jonah

Childish, much?

Look, I’d love to say that I can’t identify with Jonah at all here, that I’ve never been whiny and self-righteous and small before the Lord.

But He knows better.

And, probably, so do you.

What amazes me at this point in the story is God’s reaction. He reasons with Jonah, talks him off the ledge. Frankly, after all of Jonah’s lip and disobedience I would likely say, “You got it, kid!” and reduce him to a pile of fish-smelling ashes.

Let’s call it Reason #8635 to be glad I’m not God, and give a loud Huzzah for mercy.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” (Jonah 4:9). 

God has asked Jonah this before.

It’s a good question…and a good reminder.

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised. “

That quote was from Job, a man who knew a thing or three about suffering. 

Job understood.

Jonah, not so much.

And what of you, Beloved of Christ? Do you have a right to be angry over the wrongs, the slights, the misfortunes and mistreatments of life? Or do you recognize that everything–everything–has its place in God’s design? 

Trust and Obey–two of the toughest tasks we’ll ever encounter.

But the reward is pretty nifty.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.