So maybe you’ve heard it said, ‘read your bible’ so you tried and failed. Our hope as leaders is that all of us will pick up God’s word and come to understand the true nature of God. After all, the bible is God’s Word curated over centuries detailing His nature, His will, the meaning of life and humanity’s historical interactions with Him. The Bible details the hidden keys to the Kingdom. Hence, the reason we are reviewing a new book each week.
This week we move ahead to the book of Jonah. Now, you don’t have to be a Christian for long to know the controversy of the story of Jonah and the whale. Is the story true or a fable for teaching purposes.
There is a wonderful story from author, Rich Tatum from Carol Stream, about a little girl waiting to leave her Sunday school class when the pastor walked by and saw this 6 year old clutching a book. Feeling a little mischievous he stopped, stooped down and asked the girl, “What she was holding?” She replied, “A story book about Jonah and his whale.” The pastor asked, “Do you believe a man can be swallowed by a whale, stay in his belly for three days and be thrown up on dry land?” She looked at the pastor with a concerned brow and said, “Yes. We talked about it in Sunday school and it's in the Bible.” The pastor, feeling a little frisky said, “can you prove to me it’s true?” Her brow looked even more concerned when she answered. “Well, when I get to heaven, I'll ask Jonah.” Then the pastor quipped, “What if Jonah’s not in heaven?” The girl quickly retorted, “Then you can ask him.”
Many scholars have debated the factual nature of the story of Jonah. A fact that oftentimes mires the point of the whole book and the applications for our lives. The ending of the book leads us into our point for today. Take a listen to Jonah’s exchange with God after the Ninevites repent and Jonah is sulking. We will begin in chapter 4 verse 2, with Jonah’s words to God.
“Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
God is not doing what Jonah wants so he sulks. God asks the question, “is it right to be angry?” God then provides an object lesson using a plant. In Jonah’s continued state of sulking, God asks a second time, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Like a child having a tantrum in a grocery store when they can’t get the toy in the checkout line, Jonah utters an insult to the creator, “I wish I was dead.” A statement God could grant but chooses to use Jonah’s defiance as a way to convey the greatest of all the good news: God loves all his creation and longs for all of them to come to repentance and into relationship with him. None of us on earth determine the eternal fate of others. Only God has the power.
God's will is one of love that all be saved in spite of our reluctant and defiant nature.
(1 Tim 2:4)
There is a churchy word that describes the larger idea of God's will over and above our will or desires, it's often referred to as "God’s sovereignty."
God has the ability to do anything, to take action and intervene in any situation, but He often chooses to act indirectly or to allow certain things for reasons of His own. His will is furthered in any case. God’s “sovereignty” means that He is absolute in authority and unrestricted in His supremacy. Everything that happens is, at the very least, the result of God’s permissive will. This holds true even if certain specific things are not what He would prefer. It’s with this thought, the atheist clamors that there is no God. The agnostic that God is not concerned with humans. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Let me tell you a story from Author Scott Higgins in the hopes of reframing this idea a little better.
Once upon a time there was a grand chess master, He would play anyone who wished to test their skill, from novice to expert. One day a particularly determined young man sat opposite the grand master, determined to beat him. The grandmaster smiled when the young man made his first move. He had obviously been studying. It was a well known move and easily countered by the chess master. With each move the young man made the master responded with thoughtfulness and expertise. Soon the young man was checkmate. They played again and again. Each time the young man employed different moves, different strategies, and on each occasion the master responded generously and wisely. They played twenty games that day and on each occasion the chess master won quite comfortably.
When imagining how God can be said to be in control of his world some people consider him as the author of a play, writing the script of our lives. Others imagine him as a member of the audience, watching us write our own script. Both options seem difficult. The first appears to rob us of our freedom, the second of God’s involvement.
Perhaps a better image is of a chess master and a novice. The novice moves his pieces around the board. He follows some basic strategies he has read about in a book. Some of his moves are foolish. The master responds with great expertise and wisdom. His moves are not pre-programmed, but a response to the moves of his opposing player. Without even knowing it, the Master weaves the novice’s moves into his game plan. And of course, the outcome of the game is never in doubt.
Perhaps God is the Master and we are the novices. We make our choices freely, sometimes very foolish and harmful choices, but the Master responds with wisdom, reacting in such a way to ensure that our moves are coordinated into his overall strategy.
The right of God to allow mankind’s free choices is just as necessary for true sovereignty as His ability to enact His will, wherever and however He chooses.
Jonah found God not only in the holy temple and holy land. He also found him on the seas with pagan sailors, in the belly of a great fish, wicked pagan city and under the withering bush. In each case, others came to believe - the sailors, the powerful, his enemies and even us.
The result of trusting in God’s sovereignty is knowing that his good purposes will be achieved. Nothing can hinder God's plan; history will be worked out according to the will of God:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 - NIV)
Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. (Ephesians 1:11- NLT)
The purposes of God are the most important reality in the Christian's life. Our new life in God's Spirit is based on his purposes for us, and sometimes that includes suffering. Difficulties in this life serve a purpose in God's sovereign plan even if we can’t answer why. The ugly truth is that sinful human beings deserve nothing from a holy God and therefore, any part of his plan is a privilege including suffering. Part of God's sovereignty is that despite our unworthiness, he chooses to love and save us anyway. He gives everyone the freedom to accept or reject his love.
Creative: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/jonah
References: Quest Bible Overviews p:1350, NIV compact bible commentary (Sailhammer), bible gateway (niv),
https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-sovereign.html
https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-gods-sovereignty-700697
checK out The Center at https://communitycenter.life
