Jonah - Sinking Below

Dear Friends,

The first chapter in Jonah is usually where most people spend their time because it ends with that whale (big fish). A lot of us stop at the whales in our lives, don’t we. We believe that's where the story ends instead of seeing how that’s kind of where our story begins.

Going deep down into the whale marked a turning point for Jonah after he tried running away from God. It was at the bottom of the whale that he realized God was still with him.

The beautiful nature and character of God is that God continually pursues us into the deepest places we venture. It’s often in those deepest places, way down to the bottom of ourselves that we realize that God as been with us all along. Oftentimes people find God at the bottom of the barrel and the end of their rope. When you have nothing left to hold onto and there’s nothing left to point towards, it might be there that you found God. And it’s not because God can’t be found or felt when things are good. God’s there, present with you then as well. It’s just there’s less in the way when you’ve got nothing left. 

For Jonah, it seemed he discovered God when he went down to the deep. The Hebrew word, yarad, is used three times in this chapter. It means to go down or to sink and I think the writer wants us to get a picture in our minds of sinking. Sinking can be something that happens to us and it can also be something that we allow to happen to us. Sometimes we sink to avoid reality and responsibility and sometimes we sink because we’ve been pushed down and can’t get back up. 

For Jonah, he sank to avoid. He got on that ship to avoid God and the calling God gave him. The wind and the waves became so destructive because of Jonah’s choices that the sailors began throwing their livelihood and financial wellbeing overboard to survive and Jonah chose to avoid by sinking below deck. I mean, as these sailors were struggling and shouting and praying, Jonah says, “peace out” and sinks to the bottom of the ship to sleep it off. 

Sometimes when life feels like it’s too much because of the choices I’ve made—the million little harmful decisions that have grown into a huge storm—it feels easier to numb and avoid and ignore the chaos I’ve created around myself. Like I’m sinking to the bottom and going to sleep so I can avoid the destruction I’ve caused. And my people, those I love and those I might not even know, oftentimes currently live through and feel the consequences of my choices while I sleep it off. 

Once I realize the destruction my choices have caused, there’s this temptation to believe that I’m worthless or no good. Instead of seeking forgiveness or admitting wrongs, some people tend to deflect and choose not to take responsibility, which is what Jonah did after the sailors discovered that the storm was his fault. He simply tells them the good Sunday School answer that he worships the God of heaven who made the sea and dry land, like he’s spouting off John 3:16 from memory but has never taken it to heart. 

Jonah knows the right words to say but they seem to mean nothing to him. 

And he says, “Fine, throw me overboard because I’m no good and worthless.” Not, “I shouldn’t have brought you into this and I’m sorry for the harm I’ve caused you.” 

So they threw him overboard and God provided Jonah with a big fish to become his temporary home. 

What an act of grace and mercy from God! God didn’t have to rescue Jonah. God didn’t need to even use this whiny, self-absorbed, small-minded man to accomplish God’s purposes, and yet God did. It’s because nothing surprises God. God wasn’t surprised by Jonah going the opposite direction. God wasn’t surprised that Jonah was ignoring and avoiding God by sinking down.

Everything we thought about what God should be like is broken apart in this story. God should say, I can’t work with that now. But instead the prophet, who should be praying is sleeping, and the sailors, who should be cursing are praying. This story breaks apart every category or box that anyone tries to keep God in.

God’s willingness to work with broken and selfish people caused God to rescue Jonah as he sank down. 

For three days and nights of God’s grace, Jonah sat in his thoughts and replayed his life like a movie. Jonah’s life wasn’t this tiny snapshot we get from this story. His life contained loss, death, rejection, infidelity, falling in love, disappointment, abuses, weddings and celebrations, hangovers, embarrassing moments, dread and fear, arguments, worship, prayer, dinner parties… 

Over three days he thought about this life that God had given him and he began to wake up to what was instead of what wasn’t. He’d been sleepwalking through his life, simply existing in his relationships, in his faith, in his work. 

If you got alone for three days and nights with only your thoughts and prayers, what would you be woken up to? What might God be speaking to your heart about second chances and do-overs? Where have you been sleeping through your relationship with Jesus? Did you pray some prayer a long time ago but let go of that deep connection with God? Are you satisfied with knowing all the right Sunday School answers but not actually knowing God? 

So friends, name the chaos for what it is. No longer sink into numbing sleep to avoid the storm you might have caused. Because God loves you and claims you and might allow a whale of grace to wake you up to reengage life once again. 

With (love),
Bethany