I am currently reading through the study Jonah:
Navigating a Life Interrupted by Priscilla Shirer. I see Jonah, so much
more clearly, because at moments it is as though I am looking in a mirror. I
too have run in the opposite direction of the Lord, and for less noble reasons
than Jonah. Out of stubbornness, anger, frustration, I have chosen in the past
to do it “my way,” and when that didn’t work I refused to ask for God’s help,
because I wanted to prove I could get myself out of my own mess.
Guess what? I couldn’t. The harder I dug my heels in, the
deeper my hole became, and the darker things were around me.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to
death. Proverbs 14:12
I currently have a baby, who is on his way
to being a toddler, and his new “trick” is to arch his back, and stiffen his
body when I try to put him in the car seat. Have you ever tried to put a
toddler in a car seat when he/she didn’t want to go in it? It isn’t easy. In fact, it is significantly
harder than you would imagine considering how small they are compared to you.
This is a similar situation when we harden and stiffen our hearts to when God
is trying to teach us, point us in His direction. We don’t “want” to go to
Ninevah, whatever/wherever that may be. It doesn’t fit into our plans, and so
we arch our back, stiffen our bodies and say, “No, I don’t want to!” The
difference is, God is much more powerful than us, but will not force us. He may
discipline us, He may send us conviction through the Holy Spirit, or remind us
to listen to Him through scripture or friends, but he will not force us the way
we can force our toddler into the car seat. Instead, when we humbly submit to
God’s will, He receives us. Even after Jonah fled in the opposite direction of
where God wanted him to go, Jonah called out to God, and God heard him.
He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he
answered me.” Jonah 2:2
God
hears us when we call to Him. He does not leave us nor forsake us. We just have
to submit to Him, and allow Him to show us His path for us. “Open communication
is one of the first signs of a heart being molded by God.” (Shirer, 65) How
much easier will it be for God to mold me, if I don’t stiffen and harden, throw
myself back in a fit, when he sets me on His path for me?
