We are all familiar with the hide-and-seek games. One person is chosen to be the seeker who will close their eyes and start counting. This was usually done by leaning on a lamppost or something and counting to 20 or 50. The players or hiders then scatter and look for a place to hide. When “seeker” finishes the count they open their eyes and begin to seek out those that are hidden. When a hidden person was found by the seeker there was a mad rush to “home” (the lamp post) and the first one there won. If the seeker got there first the hidder becomes the seeker for the next round. You might be thinking that you have not played this game since you were a child. But I would think it was probably more recent than that You must have played as an adult with your own children or grandchildren. We play with our grandson, by covering our head with a blanket, and then he will grab the blanket and pull out and there you see and he is so thrilled to see you again.
But did you ever get such a good hiding place that nobody could catch you? This opening chapter of Jonah is about the Christian game of hide and seek where Jonah tries to get into such a good hiding place that God will not find him. This involves him going down to Joppa, going down below deck, and eventually going down to the bottom of the sea.
Jonah was a prophet in Israel in the 8th Century B.C. during the reign of Jeroboam II (786–746 BC). But the Book of Jonah was written in the post-exilic sometime between the late 5th to early 4th century BC. It was a good time for Israel. In fact, Jonah was a well-known and well-respected prophet. 2 Kings 14:25 says that God “restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.” Jonah had prophesied that Israel would expand her boundaries, and now it had happened! There was excitement in the air.
Jonah Flees From the Lord
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. 4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”
We know how God wanted to send Jonah to Nineveh, but Jonah ran from God, got swallowed by a big fish, and then finally went anyway. He preached to the people of Nineveh, they repented, and God saved the city from destruction. That’s the story we’ve been told, and that’s the story that we think we know. Jonah took up the mission trip to Nineveh eventually and he does tell the people of Nineveh the message that God wants them to hear. It is also a story of a missionary running from his mission. A prophet trying to play hide and seek. A prophet who hides and a God who seeks.
Israel was in the promised land. They were in the beginning stages of an economic boom. Money was pouring in from all sides. People were getting rich. Jonah was a prophet of God, and God was using Jonah, so they thought, to give Israel everything it had ever wanted. There was only one real problem during this period. Israel was a great nation, but over in the east, across the desert, another nation, Assyria, was beginning to grow strong. In fact, it could be argued that Assyria was just as strong and rich as Israel. In a sense, Assyria was Israel’s competition. They were rivals. If either one grew too much more, it would be war, and only one nation would survive. The capital city of Assyria was Nineveh. Jonah would be thinking, “All right! It’s about time, God. Those people over in Nineveh are horrible. Have you heard what they have been doing to some of their prisoners? They torture people and destroy whole nations of people.” They need to be eliminated to restore justice and peace. So he decided not to go to Nineveh. But he went on a trip to another country.
When you consider trying to hide from God it’s ridiculous when you think about it. We play hide and seek with God every day. But in the game of life, God is always the seeker and we are the hiders
Maybe God has laid something on your hearts yet you have been reluctant to obey what he wants us to do. For Jonah, it was a people group he hated. Just because we don’t want to do it doesn’t mean it's not the will of God for You.
So Jonah begins a downward spiral. Like Jonah we are not immune from this downward spiral of backsliding, we often take our lives in a different direction – I believe countless Christians are living a life that is continually running and hiding from God in disobedience. often unmoved, and indifferent to what God wants for their lives.
In fact, this game of hide and seek started in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned, by obeying the devil rather than their creator. When God came seeking them, they were so ashamed that they hid themselves in the bushes. They were ashamed of their guilt. But God in his mercy redeemed them from the shame of hideouts and restored them by sending His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus said, just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea creature for three days and three nights,[b] so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. But look—someone greater than Jonah is here!" (Matthew 12:40-41).
God has a Nineveh for every one of us -- a place we don't want to go; a mission we may not personally like, a command we don't want to obey. It may be unpopular and not personally beneficial.
Going to Nineveh is unpopular, it will cost us, it doesn't make sense and it's hard. Nineveh may be a cross of sickness or grief you bear, you don't want to. It may be a relationship or a job situation, a financial crisis, or a business failure. It may be a problem that does not seem to go away. But God's purpose in dealing with us is to bless others, to save many souls. It might be to mend a broken relationship, to forgive someone who’s hurt you – and you’d rather not.
Our society is like the Nineveh society, which needs repentance and redemption. Truth and honesty have become a memory to celebrate during onam. But who will preach repentance in Nineveh - Capital of Assyria. The world today where women are abused, children are exploited, and freedom of religion and human rights have no value is similar to Nineveh. Just like the survival of a man in the belly of a fish is difficult to believe, the repentance of Nineveh is sometimes considered to be an even greater improbability. The redemption of the world by the Grace of God is even more difficult to fathom.
The Bible promises that "Where sin abounds Grace abounds even more." (Romans 5:20)
Jonah the unwilling missionary caused the conversion, first of the mariners in the ship, and then of the Ninevites. Even the most terrible sinner has hope. God's grace is unlimited. When we try to limit it or deny it we become lost out. We need Grace to become part of the kingdom of Grace. When we get what deserve - it is justice. When we don't get the punishment we deserve - it is mercy. We get blessed when we don't deserve it - it is Grace.
Listen like a Fish. God ordered a large fish to swallow him. The fish obeyed. The wind and the waves obeyed Jesus when he was sleeping in the boat. The disciples were afraid. Nature, the sun, the planets, and the universe follow God's laws and order. But man, the crown of creation rebels against God. Jesus was over the weather, and Jonah was under the weather. Jonah spent the same amount of time—three days—inside the whale as Jesus Christ did in the tomb. Christ also preached salvation to the lost.
Jonah thought he knew better than God. But in the end, he learned a valuable lesson about the Lord's mercy and forgiveness, which extends beyond Jonah and Israel to all people who repent and believe.
The Sign of Jonah
We read in Matthew 12:38 "Then some of the scribes and Pharisees told Jesus, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” 39 But he replied to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign. Yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."
God continues to seek after the lost until everyone is found. If we love God, we want what God wants. If we love God, we take God at His word, and we live in the mystery of how God is going to ensure that no one is lost. If we love God, we play our part in recovering the lost, as Jesus told us to do. If we love God, we rejoice with God when one who was lost is saved. We may be the ones who went down the road to a far country. Or we may be the faithful ones. Either way, we know that being loved, accepted, and embraced by the Father is a priceless miracle. The mathematics of grace is that everyone wins. "From of His fullness, we have all received, and grace upon grace. Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:16,17).
Blessings 
Comments
Post a Comment