Since I am working with the children on a Jonah play for this Sunday, I have spent some time in those four chapters recently. There is so much in that story: disobedience, second chances, anger, reluctantly following God's will. But this time around I am struck by the ending.
The book
ends with Jonah pouting under a withered tree because things didn’t turn out
the way he wanted them to, the way he hoped they would, the way he thought they
would. After he was finally faithful to what God was calling him to do, the
final result was not what he had anticipated. Life didn’t turn out the way he
wanted it to.
Does it
ever? Throughout our personal lives, our family lives, and our church lives,
there are twists and turns we never expect. Unexpected outcomes. Surprising
results that weren’t on the horizon when we started. We may be completely
faithful in following God and what God wants us to do and end up in a
completely different place than we thought we would be.
Why? Because
God’s ways are not our ways. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. God has a
plan that we know very little about. God sees the big picture while we only see
the immediate “here and now.” Humility is an essential ingredient in our
spiritual lives. While we may want something to end a certain way or like to
see a certain result, it may not always turn out like that. We must be humble
enough to submit to God’s will, to admit we don’t see the big picture, to
accept what is and what will be even if we don’t understand.
We don’t
know what the future holds for our own lives, for the people we love, for our
church, for our world. It may be completely different than what we want or
expect. But God IS good all the time, even when we are thrown those curve
balls.
Jonah is a
wonderful story with a powerful message. The last message is the most powerful
of all. How do you respond when life doesn’t go your way, when God’s will is
not your will? The hope, the prayer is that Jonah didn’t pout for too long
under that sapling. Before too long, perhaps he came to his senses and realized
that God’s plans are much greater than anything we could ask or imagine.
Whether we understand it at the time or not, may we each have a sense of
humility as we travel down life’s road and accept God’s will whatever it may
be. Alleluia. Amen.
