Finding God In The Change: Fight Fear, Failure and FatigueSample

The Whale that Saves Us

In our various life changes, it can be a real struggle to be honest about who we are, and where we are, in the process of transition. It's easy to create the perfect image, pretending like everything is okay, and performing our way into approval and significance. I used to be great at this, but underneath my pretending like the smile on my face was real, and performing my way through process, there’s always been a skeptic. 

Okay, a borderline cynic. I remember hearing Bible stories in Sunday school, thinking all kinds of interesting thoughts that I was too trapped in approval-status-seeking, to express. Particularly, the story of Jonah and the Whale, which sounds like a story a parent makes up to teach their kid a lesson about obedience. I mean, first of all, gross. No thank you. Second, am I at risk if I follow God, because as an eight-year-old considering walking down the aisle during I Surrender All, verse 4, that sounded like a bad idea. 

Recently, I cracked open Jonah’s story for the first time, since maybe I was eight, and I was riveted. I gasped, laughed, and felt amazed at the guts of the prophet, and the grace of God. In the Old Testament, the prophets were tasked with the difficult responsibility of defining reality, seeing through the cultural façade, and speaking the truth of God’s word into the day. Prophets encourage people to repent and walk in the ways of their God, so that His will would be established through the collective community. The prophet would speak to the subversive narrative of the Kingdom of Heaven, and call it forth. 

So when God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, he literally, is like, nah. Those godless, militaristic, materialistic, consumeristic, capitalistic savages? Nope, not doing that. I’m going to Tarsish. #BYE 

 And then he does! Blatant disobedience, which is respectable, frankly. No lying or manipulating, no saying yes, and not following through, just a strong, confident no. Nineveh would have been similar to New York City, a rich, epicenter of culture, a city that influenced far beyond its borders. Citizens of Nineveh were strong and powerful, known for taking advantage of the weak and disenfranchised, and humility was not exactly their strong suit. Some scholars believe that Jonah may have lost friends and family members to their military exploits, and likely held a deep seat hatred for the people of Nineveh. In contrast, Tarsish was a port city, where Jonah could get the heck out of dodge, and sail in the exact opposite direction of his assignment in Ninevah. 

But, when he boards the ship, all hell breaks loose, and the crew comes looking for Jonah to ask him what God he prays to, and if he had done something to make that God mad. It’s like I could hear an audible sigh, then Jonah responds, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

When they throw him overboard, the whale comes to save him, swallowing him whole, until he decides to obey God, by saying, “Salvation comes from the Lord.” He says this, because in his humanity, Jonah didn’t think they deserved salvation, and he didn’t want to be the one to deliver it. 

Have you ever refused to do something you know you need to do? Have you ever had life swallow you whole, until you do it? Jonah shows us the cost of unnecessary transitions. He went to the wrong harbor, to the wrong sea, and ended up in the whale, until he chose to surrender, trust and obey. Let’s be real, some of our life shifts are painful because we make it so. We refuse to listen, and we take the long way around. Like the Israelites who were supposed to take an 11-day journey through the wilderness, that turned out to be 40 years and the death of a promise, all because they were stubborn, consistently choosing fear and unbelief over faith and obedience.

Post whale, Jonah shifts into obedience, and he doesn’t mince his words (remember, he doesn’t like these people): “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” An guess what happens: There’s immediate repentance. Jonah surrendered and spoke with such authority from God, that the people responded, and a miracle happened. They chose to repent and obey God, and He forgave them for their destructive communal impact.

People are attached to our obedience. This is not a game, and as much as the Lord is absolutely enthralled with you, it is not all about you. It’s not about me either. There are souls waiting, crying out in their distress, with the brokenness all around us, and our obedience facilitates healing and deliverance in this world. As Mordecai said to Esther, “…who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

PRACTICE: What are the stakes of your disobedience? If you choose not to make the next shift in your life, what will happen? Who would be greatly impacted? How does that make you feel? Ask God to help you do what needs to be done. His grace is sufficient in your weakness.