A shy, young Christian girl was reading her Bible on a bus.  A young man sat down next to her and saw her reading the Bible.  "Do you believe everything in the Bible?" he asked, and she said, "Yes, I do."  He kept on, "You mean to tell me you believe all that stuff, like Jonah was swallowed by a whale and lived?"  The girl said, "Yes."  The man persisted, "Well then, how do you explain that?"  The young woman answered, "I can't, but I do believe it."  The man sneered,  "Lady, you should be able to explain whatever you believe!"  The woman said, "I don't know exactly how Jonah survived, but I'll ask him when I get to heaven."  Now being sarcastic, the man asked, "And what if Jonah didn't make it to heaven?"  She replied, "Well, I suppose then you can ask him."

          The story about Jonah and the big fish has always been a favorite.  It all began with Jonah running away from the Lord, something most of us have tried to do at some point in our lives.  It's a story about running away and getting a second chance, something that appeals to our humanity.  Jonah was a prophet, and he is told to go preach God's Word to Nineveh.  This was not a good assignment, for Nineveh was the capital of Babylon, modern-day Iraq, and in some respects was as much an international outlaw city as modern Baghdad is today.  God told Jonah to tell them or they would perish.  It was an assignment Jonah wanted no part of.

          Some people don't want to do what God asks - they'd rather do anything than that.  He asks too much, they think.  He is is a spoilsport, always merciful on the wrong people and wanting people to change.  To Jonah, there was no point in going to Nineveh because no one would listen, and he was putting his life at risk.  Why should those godless people allow him speak to them about God?  And why should they get a second chance?

          Jonah tried to ignore the God's call, in fact he tried to get as far away from God as he could.  He boarded a ship for Tarshish, somewhere out on the west edge of the world, but on the ship a terrible storm arose.  The sailors believed someone was at fault, so they cast lots - threw dice - and Jonah was the loser.  He told them he was running away from God and the only way the ship will be saved is if he's thrown overboard.  The sailors toss him overboard, and sure enough, the storm stops.

          From the beginning of time, God has called people to do His work.  Sometimes the call is easy to hear and sometimes it's not.  I heard His call to be a pastor while still a boy, and I kept hearing it during my youth through adults and pastors who encouraged me.  I tried running away several times.  I entered college thinking I would become a music teacher.  Just before my internship year I applied to teach at Hong Kong International School.  After my wife died I tried doing anything except pastoral ministry.  But each time I tried, the Lord barred the door.  He let me run awhile, but not for long.  Like a pastor friend once told me, "If you think you can do something else than preach, go ahead and try."  I did, but didn't get far.

          It was the same with Jonah.  Tossed overboard, he was swallowed by a big fish and in the belly of this fish Jonah repented.  After three days he prayed a wonderful prayer of repentance and faith, and when the time was right, Jonah was coughed up onto the beach.  He reluctantly went to Nineveh, still believing that it was a big waste of time.

          Sometimes we run away from God because we're afraid of Him.  We run away with booze, or illegal drugs, or abusing sex, or crime.  That kind of running is plain.  But there are subtle forms, too, like denying God exists, or believing we're too intelligent for religion, rather like the man hassling the young woman on the bus.  He thought he was too smart, that he could teach her a thing or two.  I truly believe most agnostics and atheists are afraid of God, afraid to admit He just might be real.  It's easier to deny Him in pride than accept Him in humility.

          Some people run away from God by running away from the church.  They don't like church  rules or the minister or the songs or the building programs or the liturgy or the time of service.  Many rationalize themselves into staying home due to family or being tired or being poor.  But all that is just running from God, and it never works, because God comes after us.

          God kept after Jonah until he obeyed.  We may give up on God, but He won't give up on us.  Jonah found that out.  When he ran away, God followed him.  When he was tossed overboard, God rescued him.  When he grumbled at God, God gave him another chance.  After an incredible rescue, Jonah reluctantly went to Nineveh.  He walked a full day into the huge city, calling out a simple message, "In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!"

          Jonah's message was simple: "Repent or you're doomed!"  I'd get kicked out if I said that over and again.  No one would accept that message today.  But Jonah was speaking God's Word, not his own, and it caused a miracle.  The whole city, from the king down to the peasants, believed him.  They put on sackcloth and ashes and prayed that God would spare them.  They even dedicated their animals to God.  And God heard their prayers.

          Can you imagine Jonah's surprise?  Despite his reluctance, despite his halfhearted preaching, despite his prideful attitude towards the Ninevites, God spared them.  The whole city fell on its knees.  And Nineveh was big - it took three days to walk from one side to the other - and yet they heeded his word from God.  When His messengers share the Word, God makes things happen.  He brings results greater than we could expect.

          Jonah went there thinking people couldn't change, but he was wrong.  People do change and God's Word does it.  It confounds the wise and enlightens the simple.  It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.  Yet the person who didn't change was Jonah.  He became disgusted at God for forgiving them.  Jonah was angry at God's forgiveness.  He wanted justice.  He wanted punishment, not grace, not forgiveness.

          I have to admit to the same attitude sometimes.  Why does God put up with evil?  Why does He allow terrible things to happen?   Why doesn't He just nuke some of those unbelievers?  Why does He put up with our world that has rejected Him?  How can He stand it when the church adopts evil ways or when it fights among itself?  On days when I am really honest, I have to ask why God puts up with me.  I am sinful, I am unworthy of His grace.  I don't pray enough or seek His will.  I am unworthy to preach the Gospel.  God knows my thoughts and desires, and still He loves me.  That's His amazing grace, and I just don't understand it.

          Jonah is not about a whale, it's about God's love and mercy.  It's about God's patience with a hardheaded, ignorant whiner.  We would have given up on Jonah.  We'd have said he'd never change.  Jonah is too wrapped up in his little world, and yet God gives him chance after chance to see the light.

          God comes back to us again and again.  He doesn't give up on us.  He rescues us from drowning, and is patient with our halfhearted efforts to do good.  And to top it all off, God is even patient when we grumble or become angry with God for forgiving sinners.  "I knew it!" Jonah said to God, "I knew You'd be loving and merciful.  I knew you'd go back on what you said and save those people!"  Poor Jonah - he needed God's mercy even more than the Ninevites.

          God hasn't changed a bit from those days.  He knows how frustrated and impatient we get with people, and He gets just as frustrated with us.  We hurt people through our selfishness and stubbornness.  We whine and run from God, and yet He comes back to us again and again, loving us and wanting us to fear, love and trust him above all things.

          God spoke His word through Jonah, and God still speaks to us today.  Through the Bible, through people at work, through parents, neighbors and friends, God calls us to trust Him and believe in Him and in His Son Jesus, our Savior.  Jesus came in poverty.  From his earliest days He was mistrusted.  He was tempted, endured hunger and thirst, sadness and grief, and did it all without sinning.  And He says to us today, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one goes to the Father except by me." (John 14:6)

          People can change.  Some of us will say we can't, but God can do it.  That hatred, that anger, that compulsion, that secret sin you have - God can remove it.  We need to give it to God in faith.  Faith trusts things like Jonah even when they can't be explained.  Faith is the willingness to believe God, and to let Him change you.  That's what happened at Nineveh and that's what can happen to you.  May God have mercy on us, and change in us what is needed.  Amen

Copyright © 2005 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.