Jonah 1:1-2:10
“So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging….And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.”
This story begins with a man attempting to flee from God’s presence whose rebellion had put others near to him in crisis. Their response was to cry out to their various gods and take desperate measures to survive. They were all clueless that they had simply been caught up into a lopsided battle between Jonah and His God – the Lord of Circumstance.
Jonah begins this story with a heart that was opposing God’s will, suffering in the deception that one could oppose and successfully flee from Him. I really think Jonah knew better. From his exposure to the Psalms he probably knew;
“Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the dawn……..(Psalm 139)
I think this Psalm came back to Him as his circumstances were growing more severe…..and he recalled the next verse;
“...If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Thy hand will lead me, and Thy right hand will lay hold of me.”
Then Jonah instructed the ships’s crew, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea.” He probably didn’t know just how God’s right hand would lay hold of him, but he may have calculated that this was at least the best odds for this this crew. In Jonah’s case the hand of God took the form of the open jaws of an even more threatening circumstance – a monstrous fish. As Jonah moved from the mouth, through the gullet into the stomach, eventually finding himself wrapped in seaweed, immersed in bile and gasping for breath, he is being progressively delivered from his delusion. In his tight quarters, he is being transported to Nineveh by submarine rather than sailing vessel. It may have been here, over his 3 day journey, that the Lord reminded him of another part of his Psalm for the day,
“Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, and laid Thy hand upon me.”
Entangled, engulfed by the the great deep, encompassed by water and near death, he was concerned that he had been expelled from God’s sight. His heart was softening though (with God’s mild encouragement) such that he finally prays, “Thou has cast me into the deep.” He then engages his will and deliberately proclaims with his own heart….
“Nevertheless (in spite of my feelings and my circumstances), I will look again to Thy holy temple.”
As he has become more intentional, his confidence is returning and the deception is lifting from his heart. Truth is gaining traction now in his innermost being. Even as he is stewing in the fishes’ juices, he finds the strength to further proclaims;
“While I was feinting away, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to Thee, into Thy holy temple.”
Perhaps it was early morning as the beast surfaced in the shallows, blowing air out it’s blow hole. Suddenly there was a change of pressure in Jonah’s birth, awakening him to a tiny dot of light at the cabin door. Seconds later, he heard something going on with the plumbing and he was suddenly belched up as a bleached out wad onto the Nineveh shoreline, God’s original destination. Perhaps it was then Jonah concluded with this proclamation;
“Thou hast brought up my life from the pit, Oh Lord my God.”
And…hopefully, there on the beach, he was able to complete his reflections on Psalm 139;
“Even there (in the remotest part of the deep), Thy hand will lead me, and Thy right hand will lay hold of me. If I say (or think), ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,’ Even the darkness is not dark to Thee, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee….Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.”
I think Paul had come to a similar conclusion after his dramatic encounter with Jesus. Yes, Paul had experience with the same Travel Agent. While he was going one way in his deception on the Damascus Road he was intercepted and laid hold of by the same capable, strong set of hands that had laid hold of Jonah. They proved to be so strong there was hardly a point in even squirming or complaining. I believe Paul and Jonah arrived at a similar conclusion about their God by way of the same means; the severe yet tender mercies of the Father. God was obviously in charge…. therefore;
“there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Heb 4:13)
This orientation to God became part and parcel to who Paul was. Listen to this man’s heart;
“I press on in order that I may lay hold of “that” for which I had been laid hold of by Christ Jesus.”
Paul perceived that “that” was; “the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
I pray that the applications are obvious. All of us are entangled in circumstances of one kind or another. (even if its just an aging body) But simultaneously, we are also caught up into a lop-sided contest, which is ultimately between God and His enemy . Aren’t we are all wrapped up in seaweed of one type or another? Regardless of our circumstances, whether we were thrown into the sea or under the bus; whether we are merely reaping what we have sown or whether we even know the source of our plague, no one ever has any recourse other than God Himself, just as He, the Lord of Circumstance would have it. Always, it is with Him, Who is good, with whom we have to do.
So, in spite of our feelings or our circumstances, we will look to You Father. If You are endeavoring to deliver us this day from the evil of some deception, permit our hardened hearts to soften and learn wisdom from the the inherent disciplines of life. If, on the other hand, You are endeavoring to deliver us from the evil of some circumstance, grant us the discernement, the boldness, the courage and faith to reclaim that which he has stolen, and send Satan back from where he came – which is Your original intinerary for him in this lopsided battle. May we all acknowledge that we have arrived today at our destinations just as Jonah had with our stories of Your goodness, faithfulness and deliverence. And may You open up to us new doors to be the ambassadors of reconciliatiuon You have called us to be. And in doing so, strengthen us to press on in our destinies to reach the goal and the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.