Picture Jonah being commanded to preach to Job. “Jonah, go to Job. Teach him what it means to surrender everything to Me. Show him that he should not defend himself nor look for answers. Help him to understand what it means to trust Me and to submit to Me completely, no matter how bad it gets.” The problem with that picture is the Jonah would have needed to submit himself to that very message, and he was not willing! That is me! Like Jonah, I wanted to run in the other direction; I wanted to jump in the ocean; I wanted to do anything but turn the boat around and to surrender like Job ultimately learned to do. I wanted to leave the boat like Peter, the son of Jonah did when he said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.”
Peter should have stayed in the boat and commanded the storm to be still, just as Jesus taught him a short time earlier when, “Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.” There is a little bit, or a lot of, Jonah, and Job, and Peter in all of us. We wrestle with God like Jacob, but oftentimes not for the blessing. We wrestle, instead, to hold onto our own thoughts, our own desires, our own will. God owes us something, doesn’t He? It’s all about me; I have rights; I can do it myself, my way, and for me; I deserve to feel this way; I deserve to be pitied. But the truth is this; we can run from these sins, but we can’t hide. Everything will be exposed by God and is accountable to God. Everything hidden will be exposed by the light. As the psalmist echoed… “Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.”
All that gets exposed by the light must die. We must surrender even the smallest seed of self that remains. Jesus revealed it this way; “Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Sure I can hang on for dear life, hold onto that single fraying thread that signifies anything I am not willing to surrender, but that will never produce ripe kingdom fruit. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for Y’shua’s sake and the sake of the Good News will save it.”
I guess in the end we can agree to this. Job concluded with this idea. “Thank you Yahweh! I know you have a plan for me and it’s a good plan; I see You through all this suffering and I trust Your ways even when it feels horrible!” And Jonah could have shortened his journey had he concluded… “I made a mistake; turn the boat around and head to Nineveh.” And Peter should have just stayed in the boat and rebuked the wind and the sea and there would have been a great calm. That great calm comes only when one reaches this conclusion; “Not my will, but You will be done!”
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