22 Stories

When you have a story to tell that’s worth telling, people want to hear it. Jonah’s story was remembered by people of all kinds of faith; Christian, Jew and Islam. There was a tomb that was set up in memory of Jonah and his mission that was blown up by ISIS in July 24, 2014, in the city of Mosul, Iraq (where Nineveh used to be). The tomb is in ruins, but the story continues to live.

The Back Story (Jonah 1:7-10)

Remember, Jonah was on a ship headed 2500 miles WEST to Tarshish when he should have been going 550 miles EAST to Nineveh. God was not pleased with the disobedience and created a storm to re-route Jonah in the middle of his voyage.

The sailors wanted to know who was responsible for bringing this storm on the crew. They found out it was Jonah. They asked a million questions:

What’s your job?

Where are you from?

What is your country?

What people group are you from?

These were all questions attempting to shake down the information needed to find the deity in charge of the storm. (probably so they could appease the god). Their background would have dictated that they worship dagon, the Philistine fish-god.

Jonah didn’t answer the questions about location or occupation. He simply confirmed his identity in God and He said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” When Jonah said “Hebrew” the people of his time would have understood that it meant “to pass over”. This was a direct reference to what happened in Egypt, with the plagues, the red sea and the total destruction of the Pharaoh and the Egyptian mega-power.

The sailors would have been crapping their pants to know they were going up against THAT God. They might have even remembered their fish-god dagon, bowed before the ark of the covenant and had his head and hands broken off, just over 200 years earlier. They DEFINATELY didn’t want to come up against THAT God…

But they were…

In the middle of the storm…

Staring in the face of THAT God…

THERE WAS NO WAY OUT!

The sailors were way beyond being afraid. They were petrified!!!

They said to him, “Why have you done this?” (thinking, “really?!?! THAT is your God and you’re RUNNING from him?? You’re nuts! You won’t come outta this thing alive!) The men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

I’m kinda guessing that at this stage Jonah knew that his decision was not necessarily thought through very well… He didn’t anticipate God’s tenacious Spirit to get His will done… To save people from destruction…

Thoughts

Jonah underestimated God’s goal to save.

Remember, Jonah didn’t agree with God’s plan. He didn’t want to share the saving message with those in Nineveh. The Ninevites were horrible to the Israelites. He likely was remembering the genocides that were committed against his people. That’s painful stuff. BUT God called him ANYWAY.

Nineveh’s king, Sennacherib, laid siege to Jerusalem in 701 B.C.E. (2Kgs 18:13-19:37, Isa 36-37). Nahum wrote a song celebrating the destruction of Nineveh by the Babylonians in 612 B.C.E. And the Assyrians were ruthless in their military procedures (of which Israel had experienced). Even non-biblical sources recorded the lawlessness of Nineveh. Greek writers like Herodotus and Aristotle commented on Nineveh’s last king, Sardanapalus, in not-so-flattering terms! It was just not a great vacation spot for someone from Israel. And so, Jonah made plans to go to the Port-town of Tarshish, in southern (modern day) Spain. The climate… the food… I wouldn’t blame him…

But God did.

What about you?

What’s your story?

There are parts of my story that I NEVER would have wanted to write. Places I DID NOT want to go and people I NEVER wanted to meet.

But here I am.

Those people ARE part of my story, the places I have had to visit ARE part of my story…not because I wanted to but because God sent a storm to put me in a path of a different direction.

I’m in one of those storms now.

I don’t want to be here.

BUT I am and I can’t get away, even if I wanted to leave.

So here I am.

People are asking all kinds of questions, but what is my response?

How will I idenify?

Am I willing to say, I am a believer in Jesus Christ, and regardless of the storm that I’m in right now, I will STILL be a believer in Jesus Christ even if things take longer/don’t “work out”, or cause me continual pain, or _(Fill in the blank)_?

Are you willing to say that in your storm?

Am I willing to identify with the God that allowed the storm? Am I willing to trust that He’ll send a rescue to save me? Save me from His commands? Save me from my worry/depression/anxiety? Save me from not knowing exactly how the future is going to play this thing out?

I think of C. S. Lewis’ character Aslan, the Lion-king of Narnia, who parallel’s Jesus Christ.

No, God is NOT a tame God. But…

Remember, God wasn’t thinking of a standard worker-compensation approved safety plan when He asked people to stand in fire (and live) (Daniel 3:8-25), spend a night with lions (and live) (Daniel 6), walk on water (and not drown) (Matt.14:22-33), have a baby when they are ancient (Gen. 21), and go to battle with trumpets instead of swords (and win) (Judges 7). He was thinking of His plan. His provision for the situation. His power!

He has been trustworthy in all of those circumstances and more.

What storm are you working through that seems impossible?

By the way, for those who are wondering, I want you to know, I WILL lift my hands up to Jesus Christ. I WILL choose to believe that He will save me. I WILL choose to believe that He will save those I love. I WILL choose to believe what He tells me about my circumstances. I WILL trust Him in my anxiety, shame, pain, etc. I WILL trust Him with my future.

My darling, Will you?