But God, I Don't Want To! Learning to Say Yes to God When It Doesn't Make Sense.Sampl

After Jonah raised his white flag and cried out in worship, God finally pulled him out of the dark stomach of the fish.

Jonah heard the Word of the Lord. He fled from it to avoid it. He even tried to pretend it wasn’t there. When Jonah had caused chaos and mess in all areas of his life, God was merciful and showed up in a way that was undeniable to Jonah for him to have that ah-ha moment. He removed everything from Jonah’s life and put him in a place of quiet stillness, where Jonah experienced his change. Scripture says that in that place when Jonah was fainting away, he remembered the Lord.

God knew the outcome of what would happen when he asked Jonah to go to Nineveh. God knew that Jonah was going to run. He knew Jonah wouldn’t obey and could have just not asked him. God could have chosen someone else with an eager heart, but he didn’t. He chose Jonah. Maybe he decided Jonah at that moment because he knew it had to be done to strengthen his faith.

Are you in the belly of a fish right now (a pit), running from God because you’ve gotten so deep in your self-focused choices? Whether it’s small decisions or life-changing decisions, God wants you to surrender your ways like he wanted Jonah to surrender his. The beauty of that surrender is ultimately the change in your heart posture to seek God instead of yourself. It’s admitting to God that you might not want to, but you will because you trust that his ways are the best.

Jonah 2:10 says, “Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land”. If the Lord commands the fish and the fish obey, how much more should we, who have been created in His Holy image?