This is a scheduled post intended to entertain you while im away in Korea, of which I may or may not have internet connection, and even if I do I highly doubt I would spend it blogging much.
So hi, this post was made on the night before Inside Out. Well as of now, its exactly 12 hours away from Inside Out so technically im going WAHHHH EXCITED now, but obviously by then time you read this Inside Out is already over so heh.
The book of Jonah can be found here.
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Our Daily Journey - December 16th 2010
Running from Nineveh
Sixty-six-year-old Nita Friedman was not the sort of person you would expect to lead the police on a 15-mile car chase. But that’s exactly what police chief Mike Hutter encountered on US Highway 95 in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
After receiving a call about a reckless driver, Hutter spotted Friedman and turned on his lights and siren. Rather than pull over, however, Friedman kept on going. Apparently, she was confused and didn’t think his vehicle was a real police car. Although she never exceeded the speed limit, Friedman was eventually charged with eluding a police officer.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about a biblical character who also made a run for it. Unlike Nita Friedman, this guy intentionally ran away—not from the law, but from God. He wasn’t confused. He flat out didn’t want to go to the place where God had called him to go.
His name was Jonah (Jonah 1:1-3).
A part of me understands Jonah. Who in their right mind would want to go to Nineveh—a city that tortured and killed its own people? But running away from God didn’t turn out so well for Jonah (Jonah 1:3-17). After he had a change of heart (Jonah 2:1-10), God called him again to go and warn Nineveh of its impending demise. This time he went. The city repented, God showed compassion, and Jonah was furious (Jonah 3:1-4:11).
It’s not merely that Jonah ran. What’s so problematic is why he ran. He bolted because he refused to accept the wildly amazing truth that God’s grace is for all—even people as wicked as the Ninevites.
Are there people that we’ve judged as unworthy of God’s grace? Perhaps because of their behavior or the way they look? It’s time to reach out to them in God’s love. Who is your Nineveh?
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Jonah is one of the minor prophets, and lets face the truth, most of us don't know anything about minor prophets. We know Isaiah and Jeremiah, but how many people actually know what is said in the book of Amos, Joel or Malachi?
Well I chose those three because I could actually spell them off hand heh. Oh wait I know how to spell Haggai. And Obadiah. Uh, yea dont ask me to try the rest.
Anyway, we all know Jonah. Jonah is the minor prophet we all know because we all love a story about a giant fish that gulps this man up and then he sits inside his stomach for three days and then is finally spit out.
Unfortunately, thats about all we know about the book of Jonah. Granted, Jonah is only 4 chapters long and the entire thing can be found on two pages side by side in my bible, still, it contains alot more than about a giant fish. If fact, when I first read through the entire bible last year, the book of Jonah caught be surprised because well, I thought it was about a big fish.
Well, the big fish isn't even the main point in the dramatic story of Jonah.
Jonah was a book that I was highly interested in and since then I had read it a few times (doesnt take that long really lol). Jonah is about a man who runs away from God after God tells him to go and speak to the city of Nineveh and warn them of judgement if they do not change their ways. God isn't about to let him get away like that, and hence the big fish, and in the big fish he decides to do it so after that he goes to nineveh, tells them of the coming judgement, they repent, and then he goes sulking.
I thought there were many lessons to be learnt from the book of Jonah, but the ODJ article pointed out one to me that I didn't actually realise before.
I guess I never gave it careful thought in this regard, but I had thought that Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh because he was afraid that he would be killed or something. Going by that line, it would really make any sense for him to be sulking at the end of the book, but now that the ODJ article has pointed out this interesting fact to me, I understand the story better.
NIV 2010 version makes it clearer than the 1984 one.
But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.
- Jonah 4:1-2
Jonah ran not because he was afraid of Nineveh. He ran because he wanted to see judgement come upon them. He knew God, and he knew that should Nineveh repent, God would not bring judgement upon them. He wanted judgement to go to Nineveh. In that sense, he hated Nineveh, for all its filth, sin and crime. Supposedly, he reasoned that if he did not bring the warning to Nineveh, they will continue on in their wrongdoing and will be destroyed.
Interesting isn't it.
The story of Jonah isn't about a big fish. Its about the difference in perception between a man and God. The man wants justice, fairness and equality. He believes that the evil should be duly punished for all they have done wrong in the past.
God instead opts for grace and mercy. Should the sin city repent, irregardless of their past faults, they will not be judged.
And here is a picture of a man who cannot imagine such amazing grace. In fact, I guess you could say that Jonah had a little bit of spiritual pride in him too. Sure Nineveh was really downright rubbish, but perhaps if Jonah had chosen to believe that he was better off than them and hence more deserving of God's approval and all, then he did not understand the Absolute Ideal and Absolute Grace of God.
"God dispenses gifts, not wages. None of us gets paid according to merit, for none of us comes close to satisfying God's requirements for a perfect life. If paid on the basis of fairness, we would all end up in hell... In the bottom line realm of ungrace, some workers deserve more than others; in the realm of grace the word 'deserve' does not even apply."
- Philip Yancey
"The test of observance of Christ's teachings is our consciousness of our failure to attain an ideal perfection. The degree to which we draw near this perfection cannot be seen; all we see is the extent of our deviation"
- Leo Tolstoy
Even a man of God like Jonah has his shortcomings. What about us?
A thought that I have been thinking alot about recently. Reminding myself, that we are but dust and ashes, we are but wretched sinners, we are nothing really, except for what God has allowed us to be. Children of God for whom the universe was made, the ones who can boldy come and stand before His throne and call him Abba Father.
It is only by God. By His grace.
Your takeaway from this post, I would say, think about it on your own, read the book of Jonah for yourself. What I took away was an amazing picture of the grace of God and our human tendencies to even try to consider ourselves in need of less grace and being more worthy.
What about you?
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Ahhahaha I get to edit this scheduled post 1 hour before it is actually posted. Wait no. 2. Its one hour time difference here. Hmm.
Well, its really not too good an environment to post, it lags quite badly here and there are better things for me to do right now, so yep =D.
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