Hello friends, welcome to In Bolden. I'm Chris Shatter, an ordinary Christian living with and learning about an extraordinary God. Welcome to the new series, New Beginnings. I read this great comment by a young woman that I follow on Instagram.
And it goes, 2022 is not going to be your year. It's God's year. In fact, every year has been and will be his. Once you believe that your life and your time all belong to him, every year will be a victory.
He holds the victory and the whole world in his hands every year, every day, live for him. I hope that's what you get out of this series. Enjoy. We start today's podcast with Jonah 4-9, quote, I am so angry, I wish I were dead, unquote.
I've shared before about the miraculous year I had to eat God's will during my 100 Lunches Project. When Jesus first spoke to me directing me to make 100 Lunches and deliver them to the homeless in downtown San Diego, I had no idea the lessons he had in store for me. Initially, I thought it was just a need that he directed me to film. One and done.
My spiritual gifts were perfect to complete this task, or so I thought. What began as a one-time submission to God became a year-long lesson in trust, compassion, faithfulness, and humility. Definitely not traits I would have confidently listed amongst my gifts. With each passing day that year, God placed new trials and new opportunities for me to finally grasp what he really wanted of me.
I could administer any program at my church, work, or other organization. I am organized, comfortable with leadership, a successful multitasker, and can teach readily. As long as I was in charge, life was good. So it seemed.
Until, of course, someone was unhappy with me, or disagreed with me, or I hurt someone's feelings, or I felt overlooked or unappreciated. Praying always came after the fall, if not at all. But the Spirit of God came upon me that fateful day. I like to think of God seeing my potential, my new beginning.
And he knew with some pruning and a lot of care I could shake off many of my old ways and start working on new ones. Of course, starting with praying to him to help me make the change. And learning that God wants our heart first, above all, so that it's our heart that pours out into the world. Jonah 1, 2, 3, 2, 3 says, quote, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because it is wickedness has come up before me.
That was God speaking. But Jonah, he ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. The story of Jonah and the whale rank right up there with Noah and his ark as being widely known by Christians and non-Christians alike. Jonah tried to get away from God, jumped overboard, was swallowed by a giant fish, prayed to God and God spit him out on the shore.
It's a nice story of turning back to God in faith, right? But in these four little chapters, there's just so much more. There are lessons on being a quote, I'm fine, it's fine, sleepy Christian. Lessons like Moses experienced when he told God he wasn't up for the job.
Lessons on how one person can help save so many. You know, Jonah, he was actually a man of great faith. He knew that if he went to Nineveh, a sworn enemy of the Jews and well known for its evil ways, God would most likely use him to rescue the people there. But you see, Jonah's patriotism, God in the way of his faith.
So he resigned as God's prophet. He didn't want his new beginning to look like betrayal back home. But God gets his way, no matter how hard we try to thwart him. Jonah 3-3 goes on, Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.
Now Nineveh was a very large city and it took three days to go through it. So yes, Jonah sees how amazing his God is while sitting in the mouth of a giant fish and praise, remembering how God saved him before and asking for him to do it again. And Jonah, he finds himself once more pressed onward toward Nineveh. And while there, he spreads God's message that in 40 days the city would be destroyed because of their wicked ways.
But if you really read this and look between the lines, there's something missing. Within this story, you will not find a message from Jonah on how to stop the destruction. You won't find compassion and love for these thousands of people. He states the fact, does it efficiently and without pause.
In three days, this one man has reached the ears of every citizen, including the king, about their destruction. Pretty impressive, right? And although God loved the fact that they believed the people in that city and turned from their evil ways, you can't help but think the real target of this lesson was just one man, Jonah. Jonah 3, 10 through 4, 1 says, when God saw that they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong and he became angry. Jonah, he had the gifts of prophecy, faith, evangelism, and apparently administration and he begrudgingly used them. Where God saw an amazing new beginning as a man who could help bring so many to faith, Jonah saw embarrassment and shame. He didn't want to go home to face his people who hated the Nineveh citizens and be known as a traitor.
He stopped remembering that God loves everyone. And God, he can work miracles in all our lives, even our enemies. Warren Wiersby's comments on this, he says, in chapter 4, Jonah is like the prodigal son's elder brother, critical, selfish, soul, angry, and unhappy with what's going on. It isn't enough for God's servants simply to do their master's will.
They must do, quote, the will of God from the heart. So as Jonah sits on the hill outside town in the last chapter of this amazing story, God takes yet another shot at softening Jonah's heart. He provides another lesson for him to experience and learn, because God is love and he doesn't give up on us. He wants our new beginnings to be filled with love and compassion.
I love this quote from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon on Jonah. Quote, the deeper your trouble, the greater are your possibilities of adoration. When I first went into the 100 Lunches Project, I was certain I could complete this simple task with efficiency and ease like Jonah. God put me on a hill, though, overlooking all that I had done that first week and said, you have so much more to learn.
With each distribution of lunches, he said, do it again, but this time like this. He showed me how to be okay with people turning me down when I asked for help and how to be grateful when people came out of nowhere to help. He taught me how to slow down and look the hurting people in the eye and offer a kind word and even a gentle touch. He reminded me to trust in him to love him.
He answered prayers which encouraged me to pray even more. He allowed me to be loved by societies unwashed, giving me the opportunity to tell them of God's glory and provision. Jonah's story ends without a word from him, letting us know he got it. His last lines are the first that we looked at today.
I wish I were dead. God's last words are about his love and care for all people, no matter their nationality, financial status, religion, or sins. Think of the amazing new life Jonah could have had with the left Nineveh, not just knowing about God, not just having faith that God is in charge, but loving God and loving the fact that he wants us to live like him in love. Jonah's faith was a divided one.
He held onto his patriotism and pride with a vengeance. It caused him to withhold his love and compassion. When we think of the Bible's greatest lessons on love, I'm sure 1 Corinthians 13 probably comes to mind. In verses 4 through 13 Paul tells us what love is and so many think these passages are about romantic love, but in the context of the entire letter it's about how we serve out God's will with our gifts.
In a way the most important lessons are in verses 1 through 3. The lesson God was trying to teach Jonah, the lesson which can help us all in our new beginnings as God's service. If I speak in the tongues of men or angels that do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clinging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, if I have a faith that can move mountains, I do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Have a grateful day. I hope you enjoyed this episode of The Enfolding Podcast. Be sure to follow along so you don't miss any episode and check out my blog at Enfolding.net.