Jonah and Me

Today after reading Jonah, I found that I really identify with him on so many levels, with of course the exception of being swallowed whole by a fish! I see myself in Jonah, especially in the rebellion part, unfortunately. It's kind of humorous to read about Jonah fleeing from the presence of the Lord. I say this because, really, how can anyone flee from God? Where can one go to get away from God? And yet, like Jonah, so many of us are trying to do that in some area of our lives. Silly people, we are!

What really caught my attention was the part in Jonah 1:3. Jonah decides that instead of doing what God has told him to do, he is going to Tarshish, so he goes to Joppa to find transportation. I can imagine Jonah packing and as he is traveling to Joppa, apparently uninhibited by the Lord, that he has a sense of relief. I can hear him saying to himself, "God doesn't want me to go to Ninevah, if He did, He would have stopped me by now!" Maybe, even once he secured passage on that ship, he became even bolder in his plan. Now, thinking, that because he has transportation to Tarshish, he is going to get away with his willfulness.

I wonder if Jonah had convinced himself that because he wasn't being stopped, that he was actually doing the right thing? He may have believed that God had changed His mind about sending Jonah to Ninevah. Maybe he thought because he was "successful" that he was doing what he was supposed to do, that God had opened up another opportunity for him instead of the original plan?

I know in my own life, I have had these very same thoughts at times. I find myself very adept in convincing myself that I am doing the right thing, or that I have been given a great opportunity just because God doesn't stop me. I have also found that this is not always the case.

It seems that there are sometimes that God give me just enough rope to hang myself. Then, when it feels like the world is crashing down around me, God is there, ready to hear me and redirect me. For that, I am truly thankful.

Every time that happens, in retrospect, I recognize that I should have laid down my own will and embraced the will of God for my life. Then I wouldn't have had to be thrown overboard, like Jonah, into the sea of emotional turmoil that usually follows my willfulness. Then, I wouldn't have to be humbled and suffer as I wait to be vomited back onto the right course in my life. Amazingly simple, and yet so very hard.