Does Your Spiritual Exercise Include Talking in Place and Running from God?

            If we were playing “Jeopardy,” the answer would be “The person in the Bible who smelled most like the inside of a fish.” Your question could be, “Who was John the Baptist?” You would be close. He did have a strange diet. The correct question would be, “Who was Jonah?” We know the story but let me refresh your memory. God had a job for him to do and told him to go to Nineveh. Jonah, in one of his more brain-impaired moments, thought he could run from God and fled in the opposite direction toward Tarshishkabob but only got as far as Tarshish.
            He then booked a passage on a ship with some offbeat sailors and headed across the sea. But the Lord called Congress together and blew up a strong wind that tossed the tiny ship to and fro.  It extended the original charter for more than just a simple three-hour tour. The fun-loving sailors, particularly the Professor and Mary Ann, blamed Jonah for the storm and told him to go jump in the lake . . . which he did.
            With the  theme song from “Jaws” blaring in the background, a whale, or large fish (obviously not in school) swam by, mistook Jonah for a giant plastic worm, and swallowed him. With the exception of a failed snail casserole I have never experienced anything like living inside of a whale, although I did sit by a large burly man in the theater one time who smelled like he could have actually been Charley the Tuna.
            The Bible never tells us what Jonah ate but we can assume he was surrounded by fast food.  No lights, no phone, no motor car, not a single luxury, but he did spend time in prayer. After three days God said something to the whale.  Then the whale, after first making sure it’s mother wasn’t around, gave out a loud belch that would have made any wrestling fan proud, and Jonah landed on the beach. The whale looked extremely relieved, said “Pardon me!” and swam away.
            Well, how often do we find ourselves doing the same thing? Oh not the indigestion but the running from God part. For some it could be an Olympic event as we continually ask for trouble by running from God when He has something for us to do. The only difference between us and Jonah is that his experience got recorded in the Bible for everyone to read. Our story is usually just between us and God. The similarity is in the whale.
            We probably are in no danger of being swallowed by a literal whale, unless we fall in at Sea world, but if we run from God we will be just as miserable. The further we get from God, the darker it becomes. You don’t have to be inside of a whale to experience whale-belly darkness. Is God asking you to do something for His kingdom this week, this month, this year?
            Stop running. Slow down. Stop talking. Listen to God.  Exodus 19:5 says, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine” (ESV). How about a not-so-biblical but pretty thought-provoking moral of the story? Here it is. If we are going to argue with God we must remember it is only one small step from debate . . . to debait.

Martin Babb
Associate Pastor - Education | Springfield Baptist Church
615.384.3581
400 N. Main St., Springfield, TN 37172
www.Springfield-Baptist.com