The Jonah Sign

"An evil and wanton generation is always wanting signs and wonders. The only sign you'll get is the Jonah sign!" -Jesus There are some bible stories that you have heard so many times that you scarcely comprehend them any more. Such is the story of Jonah. I have heard this story since I was a little girl, but I have been thinking a lot about Jonah lately. Maybe it's because the Easter bunny is bringing Loralie the Veggie Tales version on DVD, but that story keeps coming to my mind. And when you really think about that story, Wow. Weird. Most of the time when you think about Jonah, the story is condensed to something like this: Jonah runs from God, gets thrown overboard, swallowed by a whale (!?!), has a change of heart and ends up going God's direction after all. But as I have studied this story as an adult, some smaller details present themselves. Jonah, at the time of this story, was already a pretty famous evangelist/missionary. He was well known most places and probably pretty well respected. By all accounts, he probably felt like he was already doing God's work. But then God asks him to do something really hard. To go to a people who won't pat him on the back for all his good works, who just might ignore him, mock him, or even kill him. Jonah decides to go somewhere else! Maybe to hold a huge revival, tell a whole city to repent and turn to God. But it wasn't the city God told him to go to. But I love how God doesn't just let Jonah get away with not fulfilling the plan. No matter what Jonah tries to do, God is going to make sure that His will is accomplished. Even if it seems kinda harsh to old Jonah. So he gets thrown off of a boat, gets swallowed by a whale: no harm, no foul right? I sure Jonah was pretty much freaking out at this point and thinking that God was done with him, and he was going to die. But the belly of the whale was just a mode of transportation. It was just God's way of getting Jonah back on the plan for his life. God wasn't so concerned with the pain and fear that Jonah must have experienced, because he knew they were temporary, and that they were necessary for the heart change that Jonah needed to finish the work that God had for him. So maybe, right now, I am in the belly of the whale. God is using this scary and painful time in my life to bring about the heart change that will allow me to do the next thing that he has planned for me. And maybe soon the whale will puke me up on a beach somewhere. I hope it is in the south of France...