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Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Jonah 1

The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy that the one who desires the work of an elder desires a good thing. One of the qualifications for this office is that a person be apt to teach. Within this classification that we call “elder” were apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers. Paul tells the Ephesian church that these men who proclaim the truth of the Lord are gifts from God. That does not mean that it is always easy to be an ambassador for the Lord, and it does not mean that everyone who has ever spoken for the Lord did so with a great sense of willingness.

In the case of the Old Testament prophet Jonah, we encounter a man who emphatically rejected his calling. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he rejected the specific mission that God gave to him. The Lord called him to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and to preach against that great city, calling them to repent of their evil. Jonah refused to do this.

The way that we know of this refusal was that Jonah traveled due West by sea, despite the fact that Nineveh was due east by land. Jonah was attempting to sail away from the command of God. For an Old Testament prophet to be perplexed, frustrated, or even overwhelmed is not that unusual. But for a prophet to pick up and run in the opposite direction of God’s calling is not a normal thing, nor is it safe for anyone who is seeking to follow the Lord. God led His own Son into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, and He went. Later He would go to the cross, though He asked if there was some way out of that horrific calling. We are told by the Lord that we too must follow in the way of the cross. This is surely the way that the Spirit truly leads the Lord’s servants. Nonetheless, the cost of the mission may seem to be too much for us, and we wonder if there is a safe way for us to bow out.

There was no safe way out for the prophet Jonah. He brought danger upon his life because of his refusal to follow God. Not only that, those with him were put in danger by this prophet’s disobedience. Even the pagan sailors on board the ship were beginning to wonder what God was doing as they faced such troubles at sea. As they were trying to understand the disturbance that was threatening their lives, there was only one man on board who had been sent out as a true prophet. The God that Jonah needed to obey controlled the seas.

The pagan captain of the ship expected everyone to turn earnestly to some god or other in the midst of this crisis. Amazingly, there was one man who was trying to sleep through it all; the prophet Jonah. Everyone else was turning to a host of deities except for the man who knew in his conscience that he was responsible for this dangerous situation. The sailors cast lots in order to identify the guilty party, and they managed to find their man. Was it one of those frantic prayer warriors pleading with some false god? No it was the prophet of the Lord, Jonah, who simply refused to bring the Word of the Lord to the Assyrians; the mortal enemies of Judah and Israel. The casting of lots among the sailors somehow revealed the source of God’s fury, and it was His servant, the prophet who was running away from his true calling.

Naturally the other men on board wanted to understand what Jonah had done in order to bring everyone on the ship into such danger. Jonah plainly told the story of his unwillingness to serve the Lord by going to Nineveh. His solution to the problem was very straight-forward: “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea.” The crew did not want to send Him overboard. Yet they were forced to do so because of their own desperate condition. They did want to live. It soon became obvious that Jonah would have to go if any of them were to survive this strange judicial ordeal; this trial by drowning.

Prior to throwing Jonah off the ship the sailors turned to the true God in prayer. They wanted Jonah’s Lord to know that they were taking no joy in what was sure to be the death of His servant. But then Jonah did not die. The sea ceased from its raging. It was not the intention of the Lord to end the story of Jonah with the drowning of the prophet. God had a better plan for this reluctant servant. He appointed a great fish to rescue this man, and so Jonah was inside that fish for three days and three nights.

Many centuries later a perfect prophet was raised up to a tougher ministry than that of Jonah. He would not merely announce the judgment of God against an enemy nation. While we were yet sinners, Christ was called upon by God to die for us. He too was beyond the reach of men for three days, but in His sufferings this greatest of all prophets faced the hell that we deserved. Jonah is known for a fish that saved Him. Christ is known for a cross that saved us.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 12:01 PM

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