🐳 Jonah as Holy Satire
Sometimes when you are feeling uncomfortable, God is nudging you to move toward some good that he has for you. Here's the fresh news of how we found ourselves in that exact situation.
Sensing a Lack of Peace. Last weekend, we were struggling with a lack of appreciation about a particular temporary situation at our beloved home church. We decided it would be best to keep our bad attitudes away, and not muddy the waters of what God wanted to do with the congregation that Sunday.
Moving toward Peace. After consulting our iPhone map, we visited a sweet church plant mere blocks from our home, which delivered us a gift that we couldn't have foreseen. In fact, it was the clear fulfillment of a promise made several years ago. Back then, the Lord had provided an answer ("Part 2") without explaining the background context ("Part 1") for it. Through the preaching of the sermon at this church, I was finally able to connect the dots into a complete picture.
"Part 2" Came First. A couple of years ago, I'd had a dream about a Nineveh-like zombie situation, where I saw a scroll that said, "Part 2: Son of the Dawn Walker." This threshold guardian keeps us from passing through certain important milestones in life. From that dream, I sensed the Lord was telling me (1) this entity was empowered by love, not defeated by it, and (2) the protocol of ministry was somehow (???) related to Nineveh. (Anne Hamilton has a whole series of important books on "How to Deal With..." various threshold guardians, but she hasn't mentioned this one.)
"Part 1" Came Last Sunday from the sermon at the new church! I had never heard before that the book of Jonah was written as a satire about about two groups that would never have agreed under normal circumstances. But the Lord showed that reconciliation was possible, at least temporarily. Somehow, I realized this was the piece of the protocol I'd been missing for this particular perverse entity controlling Nineveh. With this entity, the rules get flipped on their head. In any other situation, you want to approach with love first, but Jonah delivered a purely wrathful message with no hope oracle: “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” The King immediately issued his own call to a strong show of repentance with the hope that "God may relent and change his mind." In the face of that repentance, God did indeed change his mind, and calamity was averted.
As the Ninevites discovered, it's never too late to make a turnaround. Baby steps and small habits to build. Get it before it expires here: 👉 https://gift.lifeafter40.com/estuary
I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!
-- Jonah 2:1,9 (NRSVue)
(Jonah's prayer from the belly of the fish before being delivered.)
Blessing you to receive deliverance from what is distressing you.