Most people know that I grew up in a typical Christian family. I went to church, helped my mom make communion bread, learned the bible stories from the flannel graphs just like many others. I liked the stories. The fantastic tales of Noah and the city sized ship, the plagues of Egypt, and the Garden of Eden were my favorites. Those stories had happy endings; Noah saw the first rainbow, the Jews escaped into the wilderness to have a big party, and Adam and Eve got the roam of the planet to enjoy nature. It all seemed so simple and beautiful when characters were stuck up on the board, there was no pain, no understanding of sin, no chaos. I guess flannel pictures simplify all of that away. I didn’t know that Adam and Eve probably got sunburn in un-mentionable places.
Now, out of all the stories I learned, very few ever required an action. Most of the time I was just learning biblical history, which in all honesty is quite boring. I am an action kind-a girl, I like to do stuff. So I’ve enjoyed over the last few years reading the biblical history reports with in the SOAP format – Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer. To me, the application part is key to preventing the stories from just rolling right out of my over stimulated brain. I haven’t figured out how to apply the Garden or the Ark to life here in 2009, but one historical story has piqued my interest.
God said to Jonah “Rise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Wow, what an IDIOT! That sounds incredibly judgemental but come on. If God told you to do something, you’d have to be a fool to try and run the other direction. Jonah was raised to know the stories, he knew of God’s power. And for some reason he thought being outside of God presence would be a. possible and b. better.
We all know the next part of the story, he gets kicked off a boat, Moby Dick swallows him, he meets Pinocchio in the belly of a fish, and escapes to live happily ever after (the details are a little vague to me, but you get the point). So God put something huge in Jonah’s way to stop him from running away. I can’t even count the number of times God has thrown in a monkey wrench to stop me from being an idiot. I’m just like Jonah, I’m a runner. I often know the right action to take, and I turn tail because ‘Its too hard’ or ‘I’m tired.’ And its when I manage to run, be it mentally or physically, that it becomes obvious I’m an idiot.
There comes a point when we all hit rock bottom from our stupid decisions. What lesson do I need to learn today? And where’s the whale?
We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn, and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. -C.S. Lewis
