Writers In The Storm

Poor Jonah. We sometimes laugh at this pouting prophet, but I’m probably in his company more often than I would want you to know. Perhaps we all share a similarity to this comic-relief specimen of humanity. Maybe we should go a little easier on Jonah.

God had a plan for Jonah’s life-a specific mission to deliver a warning to Jonah’s enemies about God’s coming judgment. Jonah didn’t like his assignment; he knew that sounding the warning might cause the Ninevites to repent and then God wouldn’t destroy them. He preferred to see God annihilate his enemy. (I suppose mercy wasn’t one of Jonah’s spiritual gifts.) So Jonah ran. God redirected him-that’s the part where the whale comes in. God eventually used him to deliver a message Jonah didn’t want to deliver. God showed mercy on Jonah’s enemies-that’s the part of the plan Jonah didn’t like (can’t you just hear Jonah saying “@!#%! I knew it!”). So Jonah was mad at God. God challenged his thinking by questioning Jonah’s anger and using the illustration of caring more for something stupid like a plant (the plant enriched Jonah’s life at the moment) than showing compassion for the lives of men, women, children, and even animals.

God’s questioning resembled the tongue-in-cheek kind of questioning that parents do with their kids when the parents already know the answers and the kids are inventing outlandish explanations to nonsensical behavior. I’m sure God must’ve had a private laugh at his clueless prophet’s expense while Jonah crossed his arms, stomped his foot, and jutted out his bottom lip. Jonah was mad and by-golly he had good reason.

I understand. I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve been in Jonah’s position. In my earlier years I snickered at Jonah’s childish pouting, but I really can’t be that hard on Jonah-he thought God hadn’t delivered on the promises of deliverance and retribution. Jonah felt like God let him down. God hadn’t behaved the way Jonah thought a deity should-these people had mistreated Jonah’s people and justice demanded that the Ninevites be punished. It wasn’t fair. God’s ways confused him. God’s sovereignty left Jonah grasping for a world set aright. This didn’t look like anything Jonah had envisioned for his world. Not at all.

I chuckled at Jonah’s silliness until I encountered my own undesirable God-assigned missions. Then I joined Jonah’s ranks. Okay, now I get the pouting thing. God is asking too much of me. This just isn’t fair. Like Jonah, I’ve had days when I preferred the belly of the whale to carrying out God’s divine task.

Does God ever roll His eyes at us? I wonder if He sighs and groans that I’m a lost cause or shakes His head at my inability to “get it.” How many plants-the material creature comforts of life-do I pout over? Do I even care that there’s a lost-and-dying world needing a message of hope? And do I prefer revenge to compassion? Really?

I’m quick to choose His mercy for myself-why not for others? Maybe I should consider how quickly God withered Jonah’s plant. Or how consistently He extends mercy to me.

We put down my cranky insulin-dependent cat, Hayward, two days ago. She was 13. She had increasing problems from the disease, but weight loss was one of the few she missed. Her back feet were not always under her command, she occasionally seemed to be in pain, and I was looking into feline diapers. She had a stroke or some other violent neurological event, which we did not expect her to survive. My last cat died the same way. All I could do was hold her and offer soothing words. Hayward came out of it breathing, but clearly debilitated. I miss her furry face.

It was a non-decision for me to put her down. It’s what you do for animals. There is not a human equivalent to this. Human life is precious.

In some ways our medical advancements have only muddied our clarity. The Terry Schiavo case certainly divided some rooms. For my husband, what it came down to was the feeding. Disengage the heart pumps, the forced oxygen, if the major organs won’t work on their own, then, Amen, I get to meet Jesus.

But if I can’t eat, please, at least, feed me. We fed my son when he couldn’t feed himself. We fed my mom, too. It’s a logical line to draw.

There’s always a reason to give up, if you want one. Ditto with going on. It saddens me to see our society embrace, to any degree, assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is a sin against the image of God. I can only imagine how it must sadden Him. He determines our time here. But if you don’t acknowledge him as creator, it’s another logical line to draw.

God gave me explicit dominion over my cat, Hayward. I have exercised that for her benefit. May she purr in peace.

I’ve been thinking a lot about leaders lately, having been a microcosmic one myself in years past, and as with most issues, I have an opinion.  Business leaders, church leaders, presidents.  The power wielded by such is inestimable as it effects the lives of their charges. 

Lost jobs.  Lost faith.  Lost lives. 

I’ve never wanted to run the world.  Or even the country.  I have an inherent mistrust of anyone that fancies himself qualified.  And there isn’t a sole alive that I agree with on everything.  Ask my husband.

Every leader, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is there by the appointment of God.  That is my comfort.  Because I know that no matter whom we elect come November, he will have to give an accounting before God.  He will have to answer for the decisions he made.  He will have to bow down.

God is the beginning and the end.  The ultimate benevolent sovereign. I have refuge in His keep.  I have rest in Him.  

Why is there anything?

How did You come to be?

What’s up with dreams?

How do You keep track of all this?

What did the Garden on Eden look like?

What does the appendix do?

These are just a few of the questions I have for God. I plan to keep updating the list, from time to time. I have others, that don’t seem lofty enough for public display, but I plan to ask all the same.
My questions don’t offend God, because I seek the truth. There are many cases in the bible where the Pharisees and the Sadducees asked questions of Jesus. He never answered meekly. Read Mathew 23:1-39, if you think Jesus only spoke in hushed lets-all-get-along tones.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees were the keepers and interpreters of the religious law. They should have known best. Yet they used their positions to impose hardship and exact undue payments from the masses.

Jesus tolerant? Read again.

Their questions served only to set Him up for failure in His mission and to ridicule Him before the people. In spite of the miracles, the fulfillment of prophecy, the unparalleled wisdom, he was a challenge to their authority. They didn’t seek the truth. As a consequence, they didn’t receive it.