I reread Jonah recently. It is a very dramatic book that reminds me of a petulant toddler. As a mirror that reflects the disobedience, stubbornness, and haughtiness that exists in the human heart, it hits home for me too. In verse 3 of Jonah 1, Jonah is fleeing from the Lord’s instruction to go to Ninevah. He decides to go in the opposite direction via a ship that is going to Tarshish. In this completely futile escape from the Lord, the ship hits a nasty storm.
Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence.But the Lord threw a great wind onto the sea, and such a great storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. Jonah 1:3-4
It was in this storm that the sailors, who were gripped with fear, began to question Jonah about why the ship was about to be broken apart. They had already prayed to their Gods with no rescue. Turning to Jonah, they demanded some answers. Now as a judgment against Jonah, but rather a means to examine the areas of my life where I fall short, I must admit I have done what Jonah did at that moment. He declared he worshiped the Lord in the midst of his disobedience. With his mouth he proclaimed the Lordship of God over him, while his actions spoke an entirely different story.
He answered them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were seized by a great fear and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence because he had told them. Jonah 1:9-10
I have blessed the Lord with my words of worship on Sunday mornings and throughout the week all the while knowing full well He has asked me to do something I frankly didn’t want to do. I am trying to wait out the clock on the request, so to speak. I can’t call the Lord my Lord and do this. My own sin comes to light in these times of reading scripture. I can face to run further or submit to the changing and transforming power of Christ.
“If you love me, you will keep[g] my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17
With the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, inside of me, I may even be held to a higher rebuke when I am running from the Lord’s commands. He is a constant presence that, let’s be honest, many tines confirm the Word of the Lord multiple times. This abiding presence is something new for those under the new covenant. It is transformative. It can take what is hardened and make it teachable. This is done through true and sincere repentance. A stark change in thought, word, and deed marks repentance. It is the process of turning around. This is where Jonah gets a little extra. Instead of repenting, he asks the sailors to throw him into the sea.
So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse. He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so that it will calm down for you, for I know that I’m to blame for this great storm that is against you.” Jonah 1:11-12
He could have repented and directed them to turn around, but instead of change, he chose to face dire consequences. I heard a speaker recently say that we will never fully know the fruit of our obedience in this life, and we will also never fully know the result of our disobedience. God is sovereign, and He invites us to be part of His plans. Just as we see those used by God face the consequences of their behavior, so too shall we. Assyria is a great example of this. God says H will use them as a rod of His wrath but once He is done will punish the King of Assyria for his pride, even though the plan of the conquest was not in his heart, but rather initiated by God.
Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger the staff in their hands is my wrath. I will send him against a godless nation; I will command him to go against a people destined for my rage, to take spoils, to plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets. But this is not what he intends; this is not what he plans. It is his intent to destroy and to cut off many nations. For he says, “Aren’t all my commanders kings? Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus? As my hand seized the kingdoms of worthless images, kingdoms whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria, and as I did to Samaria and its worthless images will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?” But when the Lord finishes all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes.” Isaiah 10:5-12
The cry of our hearts should be humility and obedience. We should be quick to as the Lord commands, and even faster to repent and turn around when we are led by pride to do anything other than what God has directed. Looking at Jonah, I learn a lot about my own sin nature. Unlike his error, I pray I don’t go overboard and double-down on my rebellion.