Jonah 1-2 today. Word of the Lord comes to Jonah: “GET UP! Go to Nineveh.” Next verse: “So Jonah GOT UP (way to hop to it, bro!) to flee to Tarshish (bro, wrong way!) from the Lord’s presence (um, tough gig).” Gets on a ship. Furious squall. Sailors: “GET UP! Call to your god!”
1. Sometimes God says GET UP & GO.
2. So we get up & flee.
3. A lot of running from God is running from obedience. I mean, we want to do things for God and all but not THAT thing. We want to work with people we like. People like us.
4. The thing about winds & waves is they obey.
2. So we get up & flee.
3. A lot of running from God is running from obedience. I mean, we want to do things for God and all but not THAT thing. We want to work with people we like. People like us.
4. The thing about winds & waves is they obey.
One of the best parts of chapter 1 is when Jonah, having confessed to causing the storm, says to the sailors, “Pick me up & throw me in.” Dude, you could jump in. Jonah’s obviously holding on for dear life because they’re unable to bring themselves to do it. So they try rowing.
Storm burgeons. Scared to death of the sea, Jonah’s God & taking a life, they pick Jonah up & throw him in. “The Lord appoints a great fish to swallow Jonah.” Absolute perfection. A thing or 2: God’s not trying to kill you. He’s trying to use you. And he will. His way or his way.
Right there in the belly of that great fish Jonah nicknamed Sheol (2:1), seaweed wrapped around his spinning head, he prayed. Called to God in his distress. I always hear it in my head like the sound we’d make if we were trying to talk while gargling Listerine. Then comes Jonah’s
resurrection from near death. And it comes by way of fish vomit. Right on dry land. And he’s going to get another chance to obey. But he’s banking on one thing. He’s banking on the Ninevites not obeying. Because he doesn’t like them. And they don’t deserve the 2nd chance he got.
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