Everyone loves a good story. One of the best known tales in all the Bible is that of Jonah. But is it just a big fish tale that we learned growing up or is there more to it? Are there greater insights to be gleaned than a big fish swallowed a little man? We began answering those questions during our Gathering this morning. Jonah, in essence, put on a blindfold in the hopes that if God was out of sight he would be out of mind. In the midst of his running from God, he finds himself in the middle of sailors who desperately need to hear about the love of God. Unfortunately, Jonah was silent. Do you ever find yourself in that kind of position - surrounded by people who need to hear the message of the Gospel - and yet you're silent? Why do we do that? Why do we often avoid the situations God puts in front of us daily?
8 comments:
Perhaps it's because we fear that what happened to Jonah will happen to us; we'll be taken to a place we don't want to go. That could be conversationally, relationally, spiritually, OR geographically. We instictively shun discomfort, so it takes a conscious, and God-empowered decision to override our own instincts.
I loved the concept of looking at the story from God's point of view. Jonah as a story of God's love for the people of Nineveh, the sailors, and for Jonah himself.
So sad that Jonah missed out on the big story because he could only see his little part of it.
3 reasons...1. "Life Blindness" - too busy with normal crazy life to see anything but normal crazy life; 2. "God Estrangement" - don't "get together" with God enough to recognize him; 3. "JS" (Jonah Syndrome) - See the situation God puts there...but choose to run the other way...for any of the reasons from The Gathering yesterday, or that Tim mentioned above.
And, like Cathy, I never thought of it from God's point of view before...that he LOVED those wicked people. What a concept! Nor did I really think about myself being a Jonah...like was implied in the action-provoking questions at the end of The Gathering. Coming to church is starting to be personal, Wahlstedt! Maybe even transformational? Again...what a concept.
I think that we secretly want some people to go to hell. My prayer is that God will break us to mold us into vessels that He can use and that our hearts will continue to be broken by the things that break His heart.
Nicely put, Margaret. I think the story of Jonah is ultimately about our prejudices. Who are we willing to "throw away"? My favorite Jonah Story Book says it so well, "So Jonah learned a very big lesson, much to his his displeasure...the people who he thought were trash were really God's great treasure." Jonah's Trash, God's Treasure by Joel Anderson
Jonah highlights how much bigger God's vision is than ours. I feel certain that if God called me to go to Iraq to say almost anything that I would be looking for a plane ticket to somewhere else, or at least doing almost anything but going to Iraq.
Margaret, you're cracking me up! A cerious and profound comment...but cracks me up none the less! :-) I'm using you as bait to get others to come get involved in BLOGGING..."You HAVE to go read what Margaret wrote!"
*serious
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