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'Winging It
by Stan Smith
Okay, so we have a prophet of God who decides to run. Bad option, right? Not a good thing.
Have you ever done that? Oh, of course not the whole "sail to Tarshish but get eaten by a fish on the way" thing. I mean where you don't do what you know God wants you to do. Ever done that? One thing we all know about that: bad choice. God wants something from us, and we stand in His way. Not a safe place to be. And the guilt is incredible. God could have accomplished something, but I refused. Really, really not good.
Fortunately for us, we don't have such a poor God. He's actually pretty smart. He's actually ... oh, what's the word ... Sovereign. So look at the outcome of Jonah's hard fought efforts to avoid God's plan for his life.
The first people we come across who are interacting with Jonah in the book of Jonah is the folk on the boat. Jonah crawls into a bunk for a nice nap, and they're in fear of drowning in a storm. They're calling on everyone on board to pray to whatever god they might have. And then they find this sleeper. "Seriously, Jonah, sleeping? Pray, man, pray!" Of course, that was precisely what Jonah could not do because he was, after all, on the lam from the God he would need to pray to. But there was no help. In mounting terror, they opted to throw lots to see who the gods were mad at and, oddly enough, it fell to Jonah. "Okay, what did you do?" He told them. "Ummm, okay, (stupid), so what do we do to keep from dying?" "Throw me overboard." Isn't that strange? He didn't say, "I'll jump overboard and you'll be alright." No, he wouldn't budge. They had to do it. And he played it right because if you read the account they weren't too keen on doing that. But things got worse, so over he went.
And the Scripture says "they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging" (Jonah 1:15). Sounds like an instantaneous change. Kind of like the New Testament account when Jesus said, "Peace! Be still!" And it was.
Most interesting, though, is the outcome. "Then the men feared the LORD greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows" (Jonah 1:16). That's right. If these were New Testament men, they became Christians. These people converted because Jonah sinned.
Indeed, when you think about it, there are two types of people in the book of Jonah. There is Jonah, of course, the reluctant prophet, and there is everyone else ... who all repent. The sailors turn to God. Ninevah turns to God. People coming to Jehovah who would never have otherwise. Massive revival. All due to a prophet who didn't want to do what God wanted.
Do you ever wonder if you're standing in God's way? Do you ever think "If only I was more compliant, God would get more done"? Trust me. God can use anything. A donkey. A reluctant, recalcitrant prophet. Even you. No, really. Even me.
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I'm married with four grown children and (currently) four grandchildren. My wife and I live in sunny Phoenix by choice. I hope to encourage people with my words and to share with others what God has shared with me.
For more writings you can see my blog at birdsoftheair.blogspot.com.
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