Jonah

A very short chapter, but probably one of the most confusing and - at the same time - comforting as it very well relates to who we are as humans and how we react to God's callings. Basically, in this four chapter book of the Bible, it talks about how God brings this large calling upon a man named Jonah. Now Jonah has a background of anger and disobedience problems, so when God calls him to minister to the city of Nineveh - one of the most ungodly cities in the Bible - what do you think Jonah did?

Now as it is, Jonah flees the Lord's calling by trekking to sea and fails in the process as God brings upon him mighty waves that sweep him over and he is swallowed by a huge fish. In this, he is humbled and realizes that truly [running from God only leads to failure, even if the failure is glory.] One may ask, how is Jonah getting glory by sitting in a belly of a fish? Hey, he has his own book in the Bible right? So I feel personally that the significance is that maybe there are people out there who do ungodly things - such as steal, oppose God, trade drugs, live explicit lifestyles, believe in racism, etc. - and are glorified for them in a way that they are encouraged through the things they do. Normally, when a bully picks on a younger kid, the bully's friends will praise him for what he has done, but they probably who reject him if he one day turned around and was nice to the younger boy. But think in this perspective, what kind of actions could the bully show to the young boy, and what actions will truly bring satisfaction?

So now that Jonah feels guilty, he listens to the Lord the second time around - which shows that God is a God of second chances; hence why he sent Jesus. Jonah then goes and ministers to the Ninevites, despite having doubts, he accomplished revealing God's glory and God was merciful to that nation. All ends well? Not exactly. You might think Jonah was happy that God's plan worked, but he was actually angry towards God for not obliterating that nation full of corruption and sin; and then... The End.

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So what does this story resemble to you? If my summarization wasn't the greatest, take a look at it for yourself. It is quite a neat chapter. But what I got out of it basically lie in these five words: doubt, listening, calling, opinion and action.

In relation to doubt, I have been reading recently a work of John Ortberg known as Faith and Doubt, which he talks about why having faith will bring doubt, and having doubt builds faith. It is really cool, but all I need to say about doubt in relation to Jonah is that Jonah doubted the plan God had for him, and when he do that, we obviously fail. Because God's plan is better than ours.

Now as for listening and calling, God does call us to great things - if you are open and listening to Him. And back to the fact that God's plan is better than ours, it is true because when we listen to Him and His calling, we are going to be apart of great work. If you do have doubts about listening to God though, think about this: has God's plan ever failed? If so, why? But in my general perspective of God, He is so majestic and powerful that even if we [think] He failed, He most likely didn't and we're just dumb.

And concluding with opinion and action, our opinion of what God does will not always be satisfying. Truly, Jonah wasn't happy with what God did, but that is because God is just. And it is tough for us as humans to establish our lives on justice, and that is why we may never actually see God's work eye-to-eye. But as for actions, Jonah ran from God's first calling but lived up to the second. Problem is that he not only fulfilled God's calling, but he wasted time beforehand. Just imagine if Jonah listened to God's calling the first time? What would've been different? These questions all apply to our lives; and as Jonah relates to our daily walk, try and ask yourself this: Am I truly listening and obeying God's calling?

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And maybe - just maybe - we aren't all that different from Jonah when it comes to listening to God's calling. But that is why God is a God of second chances.