A couple weeks ago I was meditating on having a big enough picture of God. This week I want to pursue that meditation further. God is amazing, and awesome, and so much greater than what I can imagine. I am nothing compared to him,. I face the difficult task to know that sometimes my will is not His will. I can easily acknowledge the conflict but it remains difficult to bridge the gap and do His will instead of my own.
My journey is not as dramatic as Jonah’s story. Jonah had a limited view of God, but it is surprising to note that God spoke with him – with some frequency. Surprising and amazing, since audible interaction with God is something many of us do not usually get. God told him to do a task, and Jonah thought he could run away from God’s influence. I am smart enough to know I cannot run away, but there are times when I think I can do things on my own. In Jonah 4, Jonah had gone to Tarshish and responded to God’s command. He had no idea what would happen next, but he did know that God, in his power and wisdom, would handle the unruly people of Tarshish. He left the city and set up a post outside the city to watch what would happen.
Jonah feels he has done God’s will, and most people agree up to this point that most of the drama was intended to warn and prophecy against Tarshish — a city that was so big, it took 3 days to travel through it. God’s focus was on a large community, of thousands and thousands of people, and He cared about them. Jonah was ready to sit back and watch what was going to happen. He anticipated that destruction would rain down from heaven, and it would be a dramatic show. Meanwhile, God’s attention also remains on Jonah. Here is what plays out:
Jonah 3:10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
4 :1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “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 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?”
An interesting truth comes out of this. While it is true that God’s focus is on the big picture, this story reveals that God is concurrently focused on the little things. He is focused on Jonah, people, plants, and animals. Sometimes it takes an object lesson. Sometimes it takes a ‘slap in the face’. God can, and will, provide both opportunities in our life.
I am aware that there are people in this world who, like myself, did not give God a passing thought (I used to be agnostic). God is interested in all of creation. Even an agnostic can run into a discovery that is in-controvertible (= no possibility of doubt)! When God decides that you are ready to be part of His kingdom, He will lead you down a path which helps you find truth.
Jonah needed more than one slap in the face to come to truth. He was so angry he wanted to die, just because things were not going his way. He was just too full of himself, without room for God. In the grand scheme of things, little details matter. It makes a difference in our lives to know that God cares about something as basic and simple as how we think, and what we need.
