Jonah’s Back

Heaven is above hell is below. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. That is our frame of reference.

God dwells above, we are beneath. So it comes as no surprise to us that Jonah went down to Joppa. It comes as no surprise that Jonah went down into the ship. It comes as no surprise that when things got nasty outside that Jonah went down into the hold of the ship. When God confronted Jonah with the next mission in his life Jonah turned from the face of the Lord and went down, down, down, into the most secure spot far from the direction of the Lord he could find. It is not a surprise because we all go down when we attempt to avoid God. We also attempt to avoid God because we have gone down.

We discussed this back on December sixteenth in Knowing and Doing God’s Will. We said that often we know the will of God and do otherwise even when it is easier and safer and more profitable to simply obey. What I see in this thought today is the downward spiral we are so willing to climb onto. Verse 3 indicates that Jonah saw or felt the very presence of Jehovah when he got his assignment. Notice the direction he had to go to avoid God’s smiling face. Yes he was smiling, because he knew Jonah’s plans. Sometimes our plans give God a chuckle. So he went down to Joppa, where he paid someone to help him get away from God. Anytime you seek after the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, you are going to pay someone to try to help you avoid God. He went down into the ship and probably hid himself amongst the baggage or the cargo. Then when the storm came he went down inside the lowest part of the ship that was taking him as far from the blessings and presence of God as he could get, or so he thought. This storm was furious, powerful and could have been deadly, except, it was a warning from God. It was not a punishment.

I think how many times I have heard folks cry out in the midst of a trial to God and say “why are you punishing me?”, when God in His love means the situation as a warning of coming calamity. Jonah was warned and the sailors were warned. Contrast this to the ark in Genesis seven seventeen. The ark bore them up to safety. In Genesis chapter six the presence of the Lord was their warning, not the storm. If we will listen to the voice the storms may not be necessary. The last note of importance in Genesis chapter six is that “Noah did so, according to all that God commanded him, so he did”. So here it is. Going up with Jesus in obedience or down into the mess. The choice is yours to go down with a frown or …

Well, maybe you can choose.