Fear (or, The Book of Jonah) Part One

"The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.'

But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish."
--Jonah 1:1-3a

There is a myth about Christianity. This myth has been around for centuries and is completely untrue. The myth is this: That being a Christian and following Christ makes your life easier. It really isn't so. Following Christ makes your life more difficult, because not only are you suddenly and acutely aware of what you are up against (and how you truly can't win it on your own), but those forces will attempt to tear you away from the great love God has for us, and to tear our desire to follow God's heart.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
--Romans 8:38-39

So excellent, we know that nothing can separate us from God's love, but what of our own fear? What of those times when we hear something, we feel something, but we turn away from it? Jonah heard something very clearly that most people don't get to. He was told, explicitly, to go to Ninevah. But did he go? No, he fled. HE RAN AWAY. Foolishly (truly, I kind of wonder what synagogue he was raised in. It seems like they missed out on a crucial concept in his theological education. Maybe he was ill that day), Jonah believes that he can outrun God, that he can travel hidden in the bowels of a ship and escape the calling that has been sent to him. How often do we do that? How often do I ignore a conviction that has been laid on my heart because I don't feel up to it, because I am afraid? Too often, I fear (no pun intended). I, like Jonah, bury myself in a ship of my own making and pretend like I didn't hear what I thought I did. Like an ostrich, I bury my head in the sand.

But, with God that just doesn't fly. Jonah found that out pretty quick. A huge storm comes and rocks the boat, and in a panic, the sailors come to Jonah, asking him to pray to his own God for protection (which is kind of funny to me. I mean, isn't the purpose of choosing a religion kind of exclusive? I feel like that's pretty much admitting your religion is false if you start to turn elsewhere for salvation). And then, in the great ironic humor that God has, they cast lots to see whose fault the storm is, and bam! the lot falls to Jonah, the strange man with the strange and foreign God. And the next few verses caught me by surprise...

"So they asked him, 'Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? '
He answered, 'I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.'
This terrified them and they asked, 'What have you done? (They knew he was running away fro the Lord, because he had already told them so.)"
--Jonah 1:8-10

What a testament to how powerful and acknowledged God is! They obviously knew who Jonah was talking about the second the words left his mouth, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord..." It says, "They were terrified." They knew something was going on, and they had a pretty good idea of what was going on since Jonah, later to be swallowed by the big "fish", apparently had a big mouth as well. But the part that just keeps coming back to me is that they knew who God was. And apparently the Hebrew God (our God) was recognized as having more power than other believed deities. Or at least that's what I gather since A) They asked Jonah to pray to his God in hopes something would change, and B) They were absolutely terrified when they heard that the Hebrew God was torqued at Jonah.

So, what did they do? The most logical thing. They threw Jonah overboard (but they said a prayer before asking for mercy, so that makes it all good, right?)

And then what happened? The sea grew calm and they were amazed. They even made sacrifices and vows to God. If that doesn't prove the power of God, I don't know what does.

Getting back to the point I was pondering earlier...although I'm certainly not done, not tonight. I have three more chapters to go....Fear. Fear gets in the way of the convictions and words that God places on our hearts. And we can run, and we can try to hide, but that is futile, for wherever we are, there God dwells also. And the more we ignore it, the stronger he has to send his message. For Jonah, it meant he let it get to the point where he was thrown overboard and swallowed by a sea creature before he was willing to soften his heart and will to God. For more of us, it isn't that drastic, but can you think of one time where something seemingly horrible happened before you realized God was only trying to get you to pay attention for once? I can definitely think of a time when I ignored God so much that I finally ended up in the hospital. And once I took the time to actually listen to him, it was almost like I felt this huge sigh from him, "Why was that so difficult? I've been trying to tell you these things for so long!" I'm not necessarily saying that God puts us in the hospital, or does other horrible things solely to get our attention, but I do believe that our own actions to ignore God lead to those consequences. In some ways, my stint in the hospital was about a spiritual sickness I had been enduring for a very long time: The belief that I could do it all on my own, that I didn't need to rely on anyone else, not even God. And I only began to get better, physically and spiritually, when I was willing to give up my very fierce independence and reliance to God. Talk about a wake up call for me.

So if that was my wake-up call? God only knows how Jonah was feeling once he started to get the message.

Our lives will be filled with hardships; it's part of the nature of who we have chosen to become, but we cannot let fear hold us back. We cannot chose to hide in a ship, or with our heads buried in the sand. We cannot ignore the wonderful Creator who we know works for our good. ("And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28). That's a promise. God isn't gambling with our lives. He has a direct purpose for us and He is filled with love for us. He does not seek to harm. We cannot fear. We cannot be separated from His love. We cannot be separated from His love. I say it again, We cannot be separated from His love. That statement alone puts most of my fear to rest.

I am loved. And I will strive to be unafraid. I may not always succeed, but I will strive for this, and I will rest assured that God works for the good of those who love Him. There will be many big things in my life that seem impossible, many things with the potential to strike full blown terror into my heart, but I will not waver, because I cannot be separated from His love, and He works for the good of those who love him.

Gotta love promises you can actually count on. =)