Jonah

I just finished reading through the Book of Jonah and I never cease to resonate with the man himself. Strong willed, overly zealot on many occasions, unnecessarily passionate in some emotional areas, wanting to have the ability to figure God out down to an art of knowing what He will and won’t do, firm in my own opinions, convinced I know what’s best in life, hot tempered to a fault. Yeah, (sigh)…I resonate with Jonah. “For I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” Jonah 4:2b. As much as I disagree with the Catholics on the point of confession, I still find myself willing to go along with it if it means having my sins forgiven instantaneously if only I say them aloud. What’s the joke? Something about how Catholics flood to mass and confession on Sundays because of what they did on Saturday night? Sounds silly and yet most of us operate on the same standard. We do things we know aren’t right because we want to play both sides. We want the instant gratification and satisfaction and yet we want the forgiveness and free ticket to eternal rewards.

We believe in a god that forgives us of all our sins immediately and without regard to why we committed them or whether we are planning on committing them again. We emphasize the grace and mercy part of God because we need something to make us feel better because of our total depravity. We have churches either disregarding our depravity and making everyone think everything’s peachy or churches that bang depravity so far into your heads that you feel helpless against sin. Either way, the unfortunate end for many listeners that choose not to be individual thinkers is that we sin and then believe in a god who realizes we don’t mean to and so of course forgives us. We believe, far too often, in a god of our own concoction, our own imagination, a god that makes our lives make more sense and that makes us feel better about what we’re doing.

Jonah knew God, and he for sure knew he couldn’t hide from Him. I think when Jonah fled at first he thought, “This is going to make me mad, God. You’re going to save these dreadful people who have been living as though they have nothing to lose. These people who call out your name half-heartedly, the believers who slide by in society and yet aren’t really committed, and yet you’re still going to save them. I hate this, God. Is there any reason I’m following whole-heartedly right now when people who get to play both sides still make it?” But you know what my favorite part of this whole event is? We get to see a different trait of God that makes me realize His deep intimacy and core knowledge of how each of us are woven together. God interacts with Jonah very differently from other noteworthy people in his time. Jonah practically yells and is certainly angry with God throughout this experience and yet God never blinks and acts disrespected. I think it’s because this is the way Jonah learns and the way he gets through is own stubborn nature to find the authority and greatness of God. There’s no doubt Jonah is being incredibly selfish and self-righteous but yet I think God uses His pride for His glory and ultimate will. I think God chisels down Jonah piece by piece in a way much more effective than if He had gotten mad.

There are many things I’m yet to learn about God. But as I read this passage I think I’ve discovered one more. God interacts with me much differently than He interacts with anyone else. It doesn’t mean that He’s a different God or He changes from person to person. It means that He created me so delicately, so perfectly, so intricately that He addresses me according to my need and my ability to comprehend His point. I, like Jonah, want for things that I have not right to and have a skewed version of my entitlement. We know not how far the great riches that await us outweigh anything earthly that the scales do not even tip and we too easily succumb to the manifest of appeal for earthly claim and endearment.