Toward Ninevah or Tarshish?
I love the Book of Jonah, the story of this reluctant servant or prophet of the Old Testament. Though a chosen prophet, he often thought his ways were better than God’s way. He had such a hard time listening to God. He had his own ideas about whom he should preach to and who deserved to be saved.
God told him to go to Ninevah to preach repentance. Jonah hated the people of that city. He refused to go. Instead, he choose his own way, as usual for him. He found a ship that would carry him in the opposite direction, toward Tarshish, “away from the Lord” (Jonah 1:3). And that is when things began to turn bad for him.
Storms came and the sailors blamed Jonah for this. Jonah, knowing full well that he was disobeying the command of God, told the sailors to throw him into the sea so that their ship and all its crew would not perish. (He was not all bad or all good..just like us,…human). A whale swallowed him.
This metaphor was meant to teach us that when we choose to live by our own guidelines, life becomes very messy. We will get swallowed up and immersed in garbage, seaweed, and all kinds of disgusting stuff…like what is found in the dark cavern of a whale’s belly.
So where will you head as the New Year approaches? Toward Ninevah or Tarshish? I hope to see you on the path toward Ninevah. Sooner or later, if you are a believer, you will have to go on that path. Why not make it sooner? You will be happier, and safer. That God’s promise and my prayer for you in the coming year.