Musing About Jonah

Last night we arrived at Jonah in the Story of God. Here a few thoughts I carried away from the study....

• Jonah's desire to flee from the presence of the LORD is mentioned three different times but is shown to be impossible by the storm (and the fish...and plant....and the worm....and the wind).
• Even though sailors did not want to throw Jonah overboard, when the storm immediately settled with his expulsion, they did not circle around to pick him back up.
• It is not clear when Jonah came to his senses. When the hit the water? When he hit the ocean floor? When he was attacked by a giant fish? Or on the first, second or third day inside the big fish?
• Jonah's biggest problem was he did not find the character of God trustworthy(4.2).
• Jonah is the only person who can tell this story. He seems conflicted at the end of the story...and it does not seem to have gotten any better by the time he tells his story to others.

If one studies the book to understand Jonah one will be surely disappointed. If we study to discover God, we will be enlightened. Jonah is not about Jonah, it is about God.

But maybe the biggest question to consider is why this mission trip to Nineveh? It seems so out of context with this point of the Biblical narrative. Even in the gospels Jesus is not ready to launch a Gentile mission. There is no other similar Gentile mission in all the Old Testament. What is going on here?

I believe that God wanted to show the Israelites back home that He would forgive. He forgave the Assyrians. He would certainly forgive His own people.

He also wanted to point out that even the horrendous Ninevites were willing to repent. Why wouldn't His own people repent?

Jonah is not about Jonah and the message is not entirely about Nineveh.

Story of God (Continued)

Just wanted to provide an update on our Sunday night sermon series, the Story of God. The series was inspired by the concept of chronological Bible storying.

I wanted to introduce our folks to this ministry strategy that is used so prevalently by missionaries and nationals around the world. I also thought that we had quite a few in our church that would benefit from this narrative overview of God's Word.

So this past September we launched the Story of God series with the plan to go from "one end of the Bible to the other" in the current school year.

This evening we covered the Judges. This sentence addresses one of the major difficulties of the series. We are covering huge chunks at a time! Following the service I received a compliment that made me cringe. "I love how you can preach through the entire Bible without even opening your Bible."

It is true, our overview of Judges covered so much ground this evening, we never landed actually landed in a particular text. I felt guilt the entire evening (which the previous comment only intensified).

If I have a defense, it is that CBS is designed for nonliterate or low literate cultures. The nature of the approach is by definition storytelling. It is not designed for verse by verse exposition.

And I do feel that there are at least a handful of people who are feeling the pieces come together as we move through the Story of God.

Yet, did I really preach if I never opened my Bible?

The Story of God -- Phrustrated Pharaoh

Some more thoughts from our Sunday night sermon series, The Story of God....

To Pharaoh it must have felt like he was trying to push water up hill. The more he attempts to make this unwelcome people go away, the stronger they become.

After trying to work them to death and then offering the worst nationalized health plan in history, Pharaoh is desperate. His final effort is to deputize the entire nation to perform "no mercy" killings on the Israeli newborns. But he could not even convince his own daughter to sign on to his program.

All of these efforts had focused on destroying the male population. Which makes the roll calls of Numbers chapter 1 suddenly more meaningful.

Reuben, 46,500 men. Simeon, 59,300 men. Gad, 44, 650 men. Judah, 74,600 men. Issachar, 54,400 men. Zebulon, 57,400 men. Ephraim, 40,500 men. Manasseh, 32,200 men. Benjamin, 35,400 men. Dan, 62,700 men. Assher, 41,500 men. Naphtali, 53,400 men.

Male only censuses seem to be quite standard for this time in history, but none has ever so specifically celebrated the hand of God. There was no missing generation of men....the despite the wicked heart and evil designs of a phrustrated pharaoh.

Unwanted Seasons...Unseen Reasons

It is my turn to teach again on Sunday night for the Story of God. We turn to the opening chapters of Exodus and begin to consider the most significant event in the Old Testament (based on the number of OT references to this narrative).

What strikes me is that the Israelites are in Egypt because God led them there. But it is also clear they are not supposed to stay there forever. But, in the meantime the Israelites suffer bondage and bitterness under Pharoah. It had to be the most unwanted seasons in Israel's history.

Why the delay in the return to the promise land? Why were the people left vulnerable to bondage and slavery? Was it simply the wickedness of Pharoah's heart?

I guess the question I have is why must the blessed experience such suffering?

Yet, Exodus 2 reveals that God's timing was quite precise, and His awareness was comprehensive. So it seems the suffering was certainly part of God plan. Even for the blessed.

Note --
While they waited --

1) the people dramatically grew in number, preparing them for the conquest

2) the exodus would provide the shared experience which would define the new nation
3) they would have opportunity to learn to trust God for everything they would need
4) they would leave town loaded down with the wealth of Egypt

I wonder what powerful thing God may be doing in the unwanted parts of your life right now.

Story of God (Continued)

I shared a while back that we would be starting a new sermon series entitled The Story of God. The series would attempt to provide a narrative overview from end of the Bible to the other, helping our folks see the consistency of God's work and to help them place into context the Biblical stories they already know.

One of the elements to the series that I have been looking forward to is that a couple of our staff members would be taking turns with the teaching. This past Sunday night, our children's minister David Harper spoke on the life of Joseph.

Covering Joseph in one message is no easy task, but David did a great job. For me the strongest section was hwhen e challenged us to find ourselves in the story, but he confessed that he had far more in common with the brothers than he did with Joseph.

The brothers, he pointed out, were

1) most likely to fear the worst in a situation

2) shackled by guilt of their past

but they were

1) forgiven instead of blamed

2) and incredibly they were invited to dine at the master's table, even though the master knew the very worst about them!

Oh, what grace. I couldn't have said it better myself.