Title: Can You Hear Me Now . . . Good
Text : Jonah
Author: Scott Cody
Herrin church of Christ www.herrincoc.com
How did your parents get your attention when you were little? Some snapped their fingers and that sound could be heard across an entire room filled with people. Somehow, we could recognize our parent’s finger snaps from those of all the other parents. Some parents clapped their hands. These were a bit more obvious in their attention getting methods. You may have been called by your full name. Those three words were seldom used together unless you were in trouble and when you heard them, you knew you had better listen up.
But the most often used attention getting method was counting to three. “One” was to get your attention. “Two” was the legal disclaimer that punishment was coming. And if you ever heard “three”, it was in the flash before you felt the swat on your hind end or the hands of your mom or dad picking you up and physically moving you to your time-out position.
As we are growing up, our parents are constantly working to get our attention: to follow the rules, to do our duty and to learn the important lessons of life. Although we are adults now, let’s not forget that those who love us are still striving to get our attention, and no one is of more importance than God himself.
That’s right. God’s trying to get your attention. He’s got billions of people to care for across the globe. Natural disasters and consequences of evil to heal, but in spite of all that’s on his plate, you, your future, and your wellbeing are always important to God and he relentlessly strives to get your attention to show you the way and remind you of his love.
There’s no better example of this in all of scripture than God’s continued attempts to get Jonah’s attention. Look through the book and you’ll see God snapping his fingers and even counting to three in hopes that Jonah would listen to him. There’s an important word that is repeated several times in the story of Jonah. Look at these passages and see if you can find it.
(Jonah 1:17) And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
(Jonah 4:6) So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.
(Jonah 4:7) But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.
(Jonah 4:8) When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.”
Did you discover it? It’s the word “appointed” and throughout this story God intentionally plans some dramatic events to come Jonah’s way. From the infamous great fish that swallowed him, to the plant that gave him shade as he looked over Nineveh, even the worm that destroyed the plant that shaded Jonah’s head- these weren’t just “acts of nature” – they were “acts of God” and they had a particular purpose – to get Jonah’s attention and teach him an important life lesson.
You see, Jonah was a good Jewish prophet, but he didn’t have much love for the Gentiles, and especially the Assyrians who attacked his people. So when God told Jonah to go and preach God’s judgment to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, Jonah took off in the opposite direction. When I was a kid, I thought he ran because he was afraid of the Assyrians, but as I read the book more carefully, I realize that Jonah was really afraid of God and his mercy. Jonah was all for God unleashing destruction on Nineveh. What he was afraid of was that God would relent and spare the city if they repented. So to avoid being a party to that event, Jonah ran to the west and set sail across the Mediterranean Sea.
And that’s when God snapped his fingers. Let’s look at a few ways God tried to get Jonah’s attention. I believe we just might find that God is using the same methods today to get ours.
First of all, God sought to get Jonah’s attention through by speaking to him face to face. Long before the storm and the big fish that we know so well, God did something else to get Jonah’s attention.
(Jonah 1:1-2) The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah.” We often overlook that phrase, but when we think that God was so committed to Jonah fulfilling this mission that he didn’t want to leave anything to chance. He didn’t assume Jonah would come up with the idea himself. He didn’t wait for the Ninevites to come ask Jonah’s advice. God came straight to Jonah and asked him directly to go to this great city and tell them that God would punish them for their disobedience.
If you’ve grown up with the Bible in your home, you may have become calloused to its wonder. If you seldom open its pages and only pick it up when you’re heading out to church, you may not realize that it is God’s relentless attempt to get your attention. He doesn’t leave it up to us to figure out right from wrong. He tells us up front from the Ten Commandments to the closing pages of the New Testament. He doesn’t hope we’ll luck into discovering his plan for rescuing us from Satan. He comes in the flesh and preaches it to people face to face and through the disciples in the pages of the gospels and letters.
But sometimes we ignore those simple principles of life and head off in our own direction. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Jesus says. And then he goes on to describe the consequences of not paying attention in graphic details. I know many contractors and they each have their own approach to building houses, but they all agree on one thing – you must have a solid foundation to build upon. If they were to ignore that basic principles of building and try to construct a house on the beach without first digging a deep foundation, they would discover first hand and tragically why that is always a bad idea. The same holds true for each of us who think “No one will find out” or “I’ve got it figured out”. Our lives come crushing down around us when we hear God’s will and proceed to do things our own way.
But thankfully, we’ve got God’s guidance with us. His teachings fill the pages of Scripture. His Spirit stirs our hearts and opens our minds. And when we listen to his pleas, we are grounded and can weather what life brings our way. But when we ignore his message, we risk being victims of our own actions.
In addition to relentlessly trying to guide us by his direct teaching, God also used the instruction of wise friends to get Jonah’s. I want to highlight the word “wise” because there are so called friends who would hope to guide us away from God’s blessings. And yet, sometimes, God can even use the unwise people among us to get our attention. Jonah was holding on for dear life on this ship caught in the storm. It’s hard to imagine how he could have missed God’s hand in the situation, but sometimes, we are so caught up in the turmoil of the moment that we also miss the obvious hand of God. But that didn’t keep God from using someone else to get Jonah’s attention. The sailors on this ship knew something mysterious was at hand. They probed Jonah for answers.
(Jonah 1:8) So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
(Jonah 1:10) This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
Sometimes we all need to hear those words, “What have you done?” Jonah knew what he had done, but it may not have struck home until someone asked him face to face. When tough decisions face you, there’s no better place to go than to a wise Christian friend. Someone who will tell you the truth, even if it’s not what you want to hear. And be careful not to turn away from a loving friend who confronts you when you are on the wrong track in life, because she may be God’s tool to get your attention.
The wise man of the Proverbs passed on this nugget of truth.
(Proverbs 12:15) The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.
When you’re shutting out the advice of people who care for you, and trusting your own wisdom above that of the majority of Christian friends, you’re probably in denial and committed to a course of action that will bring you only grief and sorrow. But when you stop to listen and consider what these people have to say; when you admit that you may not have an objective perspective on life and trust their advice, you’re responding to God’s attempts to get your attention.
Finally, God used life’s ups and downs to get Jonah’s attention. I don’t fully understanding of why good and bad come our way. Satan clearly has command of this world and his influence is felt even by the strongest of Christians. But the more I live, the more I’m convinced that life’s events are much less random than we imagine. If you question that, just read the story of how the sailing crew discovered that Jonah was responsible for this disastrous storm. They sought to discover why they faced this peril. So they did what any educated person would do. . . they cast lots – threw the dice to discover who the trouble make was. And what luck. . . it fell on Jonah! Luck had nothing to do with it. God intervened in this world and shaped the events of that day to make sure Jonah got the message.
We read the stories of God moving nature in the Bible and falsely believe that he stopped that after the first century. He may have stopped working miracles through the hands of men and women, but he still has power over nature and just may, at times, use it to get our attention.
Sometimes God uses life’s painful events to get our attention. Jonah recognized why the storm raged and told the sailors to throw him overboard. They refused at first, but when they realized this was their only option, they prayed for forgiveness and dumped this passenger over the side. And do you know what happened then? The text said that the raging sea grew calm and the sailors fell in awe of God.
Jonah now faced certain death in the sea and God left him there long enough to learn his own mortality. Listen to Jonah’s prayer:
(Jonah 2:3) You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
Sometimes life’s currents swirl around us too. We lose a job, our hearts are broken, the test results are positive. These may be the work of Satan, but they may also be the work of God, relentlessly trying to get our attention. No matter what the cause, painful events in life should always cause us to stop and find out if we are walking in God’s footsteps.
But sometimes God also uses the good events of life to get our attention. The big fish that swallowed Jonah was not punishment for his disobedience. It’s was God’s life preserver cast out to save this man. Listen to Jonah’s own words:
(Jonah 1:17) But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
(Jonah 2:2) “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
Before you pat yourself on the back for earning that promotion, or winning that contract, or asking out that beautiful girl, these blessings may have less to do with your natural talents and more to do with God’s knocking on your door.
I’ve found this to be true in my life. When I thank myself for my accomplishments, they come less frequently. But when I thank God for blessing me, they overflow my life. Like any loving parent, God uses punishment to get our attention, but he much prefers to open our eyes with his blessings.
Through it all, God was calling Jonah by his full name. He relentlessly strove to get Jonah’s attention, first through His instruction, then through the wise counsel of friends, and finally through the ups and dramatic downs of life.
The book of Jonah is a peculiar book, unlike any Old Testament prophecy. All of the other great prophets focus on warning others of God’s judgment or encouraging them to wait for God’s rescue. But the true audience of the book of Jonah was not the citizens of Nineveh – it was Jonah himself. All that God did in this book was not to teach the Ninevites something – it was to teach Jonah something.
Maybe we too can learn from Jonah’s story. God is relentlessly trying to get our attention. He does it through his word and we should daily search it for God’s instruction for us. He does it through the advice of wise friends and we should not be afraid to ask a trusted Christian friend what they think is best before we act. And finally, God strives to get our attention through life’s ups and downs. Both good and bad events may be less random than we think and we should look to God for guidance through them.
The Verizon commercial features a man walking across the country testing the signal strength of a Verizon cell phone. I guarantee you he hasn’t checked the places where I drive or he’d drop a lot of calls. But as he goes along he repeats one phrase. You know it don’t you. “Can you hear me now?” I guess the person on the other end gets the message because the guy always answers “Good!” and moves on to test another location.
God is moving across the city, through the halls of your school, in the lobby of your office building, on the highways and in the homes of people through this community and across the globe asking the same question, “Can you hear me now?” And if we hear him, then it is truly good!
