When we were out doing a little visiting on the east coast, Derek and I popped in to visit with his uncle and aunt in Lancaster, PA. I could write a whole post on how amazing the Damon family is…but that would really get us off topic. So I’ll just dive in. The fam work closely with a Christian theater production company called Sight and Sound Theater.
Now, if you are like me…you are thinking, “Um, Amy…last time I checked, you were awesome. Why are you plugging a lame Christian theater company?”
Because, yes…I’ll admit it. Christian entertainment has a history of being a bit…stale. So, I was skeptical when we were offered tickets to see “Jonah.” I mean the book of the Bible is only a few pages long. How can they make a 2.5 hour show about it? And I know that story already…but…it was free. And the family really talked it up. They assured me it wouldn’t be lame.
And it wasn’t. It was anything but lame. The production quality was amazing. Everything about it blew me away. If you get a chance, you should go. Seriously. I’m not kidding. Go.
Now…all that brings me to the point of today’s post. Pulling a Jonah.
I went into the show “knowing” the story of Jonah. But there is something about the events of the Bible…they continually teach and speak to us. Even when we feel like we know the story like the back of our hand. {I don’t really understand that expression.}
What we generally think of when we consider Jonah is a BIG FISH. One big enough to eat him whole and keep him trapped in its belly for three days. What God showed me was something that has nothing to do with fishing at all. Do you remember why Jonah got eaten like a peanut on an airplane? Let me refresh you.
God told Jonah to go preach in Ninevah. Ninevah was a town full of awful people. They were barbaric, idol worshipers, and cruelly violent. Not only was Jonah afraid to go there, he didn’t think that they deserved God’s Word and Grace. So he ran away. He jumped on a ship with what I picture to me a motley crew and set sail in the opposite direction.
While on board God caused an awful storm to come and threaten to tear the ship apart. Everyone on board would die. But Jonah saw through this. He knew what was happening was his fault. God had found him and was showing His wrath. So J-man tells the crew to throw him overboard. After some convincing…they do…and the storm stops immediately.
And until I went to the show, I hadn’t really noticed what happened next.
All those men on board acknowledged the Lord. Previously they had worshiped pagan gods. But when they saw the storm that God had caused and how He caused it to cease…they knew that Jonah’s God was the real deal.
The New Living Translation puts it this way: The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. {Jonah 1:16}
That’s the part of the story that has really stuck with me since leaving the theater. So often I make mistakes. I know what God would want me to do, but I run away…I pursue my own path. Sometimes it is crazy difficult to walk in the direction we feel God leading us. Sometimes it feels like we are walking blindly. And that’s scary {just try closing your eyes as you strut down the street sometime.} So we run away. And sometimes we feel like failures. That’s “pulling a Jonah.”
But this is the message that God has laid on my heart to share with you. Take comfort…because we serve a God who works miracles, even through our failures and fears. God used Jonah’s disobedience, fear and failure to comply to show his might to the ship’s crew. Through Jonah’s mistakes, God created an opportunity to reveal himself. This is the God we serve. The one and only God. The One who can take all our weakness, mistakes, and misgivings and create something lovely and powerful for His Kingdom’s name.
Amy
