Life with Lucas July-September 2023

Raw, real and incredibly relevant LYNDON BOWRING

WITH LUCAS APPLYING GOD’S WORD TODAY

JULY – SEPTEMBER 2023

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A WORD FROM JEFF

WELCOME TO LIFE WITH LUCAS! It might seem that I’m proposing a strange journey – spending an extended time on Jonah, which has just four chapters. But although we are going to scrutinise each verse, we will also roam widely beyond the story. We will look at such issues as obedience, grace, anger, prejudice, repentance, and faith. And as always, we want to have a Jesus-centred approach in our reflections together.

Some try to turn Jonah into a flawed hero of faith. He was anything but. Jonah is an example of how not to behave. In his petulance and selfishness, he represents the worst of all of us. But he is not the primary character in this book – nor is the fish! The star of the story is God Himself – the God of power, provision, patience and kindness. He is the One worthy of our focus. We will visit some of the themes of Jonah repeatedly – simply because they are repeated throughout his story.

So, as we embark on this journey together, may your hearts be stirred and encouraged in your walk with Jesus. And thanks again for joining me!

Don’t forget that there is still time for you to join us for our trip to Israel in November, or consider joining us on the trip we’re planning for March 2024 – check out pages 32-33.

God bless you,

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INTRODUCTION

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LIFE WITH LUCAS! CHOOSE A TIME Find the best time that works for you, ideally the same time, same place every day, when you can concentrate and have the least number of distractions.

PAUSE AND TALK TO GOD Take a moment to focus on God and ask Him to speak to you as you read and reflect on His word.

READ GOD’S WORD Read the daily passage from your Bible. Don’t be tempted just to skip this part. It’s important: who knows how the Holy Spirit might speak to you as you read the actual text?

MAKE NOTES

ONLINE VIDEO INTRODUCTIONS, AND GOING DEEPER When you see the video icon, this points you to a brief Video Introduction to the subject.

Make the most of the occasional Going Deeper resources when you see this icon. They will help you delve further into the passage.

GIVE YOUR DAY TO GOD Thank God for what you’ve learned and ask for help if the day’s notes brought to light anything especially applicable to your life at the moment.

Writing slows you down and helps you focus. Write in your Bible, a notebook, or in the white space in the devotions. Don’t hesitate to underline, write in the margins, or circle words.

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WEEKEND 01 - 02 JUL

SHOCK TACTICS

READ Jonah 1:1-17 Luke 4:31-37

VIDEO INTRODUCTION lifewithlucas.co.uk /intros

As we begin our journey in the book of Jonah with a read through of its four short chapters over the next few days, I’d like you to join me in a brief and potentially life-altering prayer. Let’s ask God to jolt us out of any complacency as we dig deep into this old and familiar story, because it makes for startling reading. The book of Jonah is shocking because in it we encounter a Jew preaching repentance to Gentiles: the only time we find that in the entire Old Testament.

It’s also surprising in that it’s loaded with kindness and compassion, even for the hated citizens of Nineveh.

We’re also treated to a no-holds barred picture of a man who solidly fought with God, and yet became a catalyst for a move of God that shook an entire city. And there’s a final surprise because, despite all this, Jonah is not an ‘and they all lived happily ever after’ story.

Like this story, Jesus is also endlessly surprising. His methods, the team He chose, His priorities, authority, and of course His miracles – all of these are a shock, and the comment is often made in the gospels: ‘And they were amazed at Him.’ Sadly, empty religion has tended to tame His image.

Dorothy L Sayers famously lamented, ‘We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certifying Him “meek and mild,” and recommended Him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious ladies.’1 Let’s be ready for some surprises from our amazing Jesus.

To ponder: If it is true that we have ‘very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah’, how have we done that?

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1

Dorothy L Sayers, Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine, (TN: Thomas Nelson, 2004)

MON 03 JUL

READ WITH FAITH

READ Jonah 1:17-2:10 Ephesians 3:20-21

FOCUS But the Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Jonah 1:17

When life turns difficult, we often wonder – why isn’t God doing something? If He’s allpowerful, why doesn’t He use some of that power? Seemingly out of nowhere, we’re hit by a tsunami of circumstances that leave us reeling and bewildered. The sickness strikes, the career collapses, the church splinters, the marriage hits the rocks. Not only do we feel embattled, but faith seems absurd, and God is apparently silent, absent, or worse still, not interested.

And then we drag ourselves back to Scripture and find a God of the impossible who uses a large fish to rescue a fugitive prophet.

Sounds ridiculous? It gets worse: we’re told Jonah was parked inside that fish for around 72 hours. All of this is humanly impossible, and we’re tempted to dismiss this as a fable, one much loved by children, but about as practical as the tales of Winnie the Pooh. But let’s look again. The Bible introduces us to the God who created the entire universe with a few spoken words. We love and serve a Jesus who was totally dead, but now is alive: His first followers staked their lives on that ‘impossible’ reality. And the writer of Jonah’s story makes no attempt to capitalise on the sensational element of the fish rescue, but just reports it as a matter of fact.

Storms have battered my faith recently, but I’m choosing to believe that God still does remarkable, impossible things. I pray that you can join me in that hope.

Prayer: Increase my faith in You, Lord, especially in the ongoing ‘impossible’ situations in my life. I affirm by faith: You are mighty. Amen.

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TUE 04 JUL

JONAH AND POLITICS

READ Jonah 3:1-4:1 Amos 5:21-27

FOCUS But Jonah was very upset. He became angry.

Jonah 4:1

The man was scowling. I had been teaching about God’s heart for the poor and marginalised, and had mentioned the evils of racism. ’The Bible and politics should never be mixed’, he blustered. I braced myself for a boisterous discussion, because the Bible is very political.

The word politics comes from the Greek word polis which simply means ‘the city’ – hence our modern word metropolis.

Scripture has much to say about what happens in our everyday lives together. In Jonah’s story, we see the sin of arrogant nationalism, mingled with prejudice. And we discover God’s heart for reconciliation – mercy mingled with justice. As Tim Keller says, ‘Insights (from Jonah) can make us bridge builders, peacemakers, and agents of reconciliation in the world. Such people are the need of the hour.’2 In the fiery book of Amos, God speaks plainly: when we worship without concern for the marginalised, our worship sickens His heart.

That’s not to say that the pulpit should be party political. The task of leaders is not to endorse a particular candidate, but to speak up about broad principles of life and conduct that will equip God’s people to live (and vote) with informed hearts. As a leader, I confess that this is easier said than done. Some want their leaders to ‘speak out’ about the evils in culture – as long as the speaker agrees with them! But a gospel that ignores the issues of the city (in this case Nineveh) is not the gospel at all.

Prayer: May I be a bridge-builder, a peacemaker, an agent of reconciliation in my world, Father, and so reflect Your heart and passion. Amen.

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2

Keller, Timothy, The prodigal prophet : Jonah and the mystery of God’s mercy, (New York; Viking, 2018), p5

WED 05 JUL

REVISING GOD

READ Jonah 4:1-11 Exodus 32:1-8 FOCUS ‘You are a God who takes pity on people. You don’t want to destroy them. Lord, take away my life. I’d rather die than live.’

Jonah 4:2-3

GOING DEEPER

lifewithlucas.co.uk/ goingdeeper

Some readers will remember the velvetcovered ‘nodding dogs’ that drivers used to put in the back windows of their cars. Turn a corner, and the dog’s head would start nodding. This was an animal that always said ‘Yes’!

Jonah’s story reveals a treacherous trait in our humanity. We want God to be how we want Him to be – the One who always agrees with us, and always says yes to our wants and desires. In short, we want a nodding God. Jonah here was outraged because the Lord was not acting in the way he wanted. God was showing grace to the people of Nineveh: all Jonah wanted was for them to experience judgement. And the irony is that while Jonah had received mercy himself, he exploded with rage and frustration when God showed grace to others.

Some openly reject God – but a more subtle temptation is to try to revise Him. Voltaire pithily observes, ‘God made man in His own image; unfortunately man has returned the favour.’ One of the most extreme examples of this is found in the Exodus story, as the people of Israel sought to create a ‘god’ of their own liking. The theologian, R C Sproul, wrote: ‘The cow gave no law and demanded no obedience. It had no wrath or justice or holiness to be feared. It was deaf, dumb, and impotent. But at least it could not intrude on their fun and call them to judgement. This was a religion designed by humans, practiced by humans, and ultimately useless for humans.’3 God is who He is. No revisions needed.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, rescue me when I am tempted to make You who I want You to be; please make me what You want me to be.

Amen.

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Sproul, R C, What is reformed theology? (Baker Books; 2016) p19

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THU 06 JUL

HISTORY OR FICTION?

READ Matthew 12:38-45 Luke 1:26-38

FOCUS Jonah was in the stomach of a huge fish for three days and three nights.

Matthew 12:40

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For centuries, scholars have debated whether the book of Jonah is a record of actual history, or an allegory – a piece of fiction designed to make a point? I choose to take the story as an actual historical account, but I need to acknowledge there are some who don’t, and they are still lovers of God and God’s Word. Origen, a second century theologian who some regard as the greatest genius the Early Church ever produced, saw the Jonah account as an allegory, a story specifically designed to shock Jews into repentance. The famous historian Josephus, however, includes the story in his history of the Jewish people, suggesting he understood Jonah to be a significant person in Israel’s story.

Later on, the reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin viewed Jonah as a historical person. And most importantly, Jesus spoke of Jonah as a historical character, in the same way that He talked about the Queen of Sheba (Matt. 12:38-41; Luke 11:29-32; Matt. 16:4).

But let’s reaffirm that whether there was an actual rescuing fish or not, if God Almighty wanted to send one, and preserve a man in it for 72 hours, then He could. Just as a virgin discovered she was made pregnant by a direct work of the Holy Spirit, so we affirm that nothing is impossible with our God. As I said earlier, the real purpose of the book of Jonah is not to point to a great fish, but to a great God. May our vision of Him and our faith in Him increase.

Prayer: Lord, teach me what I really need to know as I begin this journey into Jonah’s experience. Amen.

FRI 07 JUL

THE TIME OF JONAH

READ 2 Kings 14:25-29 Isaiah 43:1-13

FOCUS He had spoken that message through his servant Jonah.

2 Kings 14:25

It’s been a tough few years, to say the least.

The tragic global pandemic and subsequent economic upheavals have taken their toll on all of us. Some wonder where God is in all of this. But Jonah also lived and served God in a time of continual fear and uncertainty.

Following on from yesterday, there is further evidence that he was a historical figure.

2 Kings tells us that he ministered as a prophet during the time of King Jeroboam (786-746BC), and lived in northern Israel, a country that was constantly under threat from nearby Assyria. The capital city of Assyria was Nineveh, and for a while it was the largest city in the ancient world. It was also a royal city – Assyria’s kings had palaces there. Today the ruins of Nineveh can be found across the Tigris River from the modern-day city of Mosul in Iraq, 250 miles north of Baghdad.

For Israel, Nineveh was a word that represented unspeakable evil, like Auschwitz or Dachau. I won’t stain this page with descriptions of their methods of torture and execution, but their demonic creativity struck terror into the hearts of their enemies.

For decades they’d forced Israel to pay tribute money to them. The people of Israel absolutely hated the Assyrians, and for very good reason.

Times were very difficult, but God was still at work among His people and in His world.

And He still is today. In our focus verse today, Jonah is described as God’s servant. May the same be said of us.

Prayer: Lord, when the evils of the world overwhelm me, and You seem distant, help me to trust You, and be faithful. Amen.

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WEEKEND 08 - 09 JUL

BLINDED

READ Hosea 5:1-15 Matthew 7:1-5

Yesterday we saw that Jonah served God during a tough time for Israel. But I mentioned earlier that he was not a perfect servant – far from it. Many commentators believe that Jonah was a fiercely nationalistic, even jingoistic lover of Israel. Unlike his contemporaries, Amos and Hosea, there’s no record of Jonah speaking out against the religious compromise and social injustice that developed during Jeroboam’s rule. It seems that he was blinded by his passion for Israel, unwilling to see anything wrong.

Assyria’s sins were obvious, but Israel was also guilty of corruption, oppression, and Baal worship. It was the prophet Hosea who boldly exposed the sins of his own nation, declaring on behalf of God, ‘In your hearts you long to act like prostitutes. You do not recognise me as the Lord’ (Hosea 5:4).

Jonah’s silence is telling.

We can fall into a similar trap in our own lives.

Jesus exposed this self-deception with His ingenious illustration about the one who is oblivious to the plank of wood in his own eye, but happily focuses on a tiny speck of sawdust in someone else’s eye. Our hearts can be very deceitful. In a day when we Christians don’t talk too much about being convicted of sin, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to give us tender hearts, responsive to His whisper and ready to make amends. And our friends might help us too, if we are brave enough to ask for their insights about us, and humble enough to listen and then to change!

To ponder:Is there something negative in our lives that others have tried to help us with, but we are ignoring their concerns?

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MON 10 JUL

MISUSING THE WORD

READ 2 Timothy 2:1-15 Nahum 3:1-19

FOCUS Do your best to please God. Be a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed. Teach the message of truth correctly.

2 Timothy 2:15

I listened to a podcast this morning, on which a minister was using a scripture to endorse absolute submission to church leaders. ‘If your pastor says it, obey it’ he demanded, quoting a verse from Hebrews, ‘Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority’ (Heb. 13:17). He couldn’t be more wrong. There are countless casualties from abusive church leadership. Religious bullies usually weaponise the Bible, lifting random texts out of context to justify their control of God’s people.

It’s possible that Jonah’s nationalistic blindness was partly caused by his misunderstanding of the word of the Lord spoken earlier by the prophet Nahum.

Denouncing Nineveh with furious promises of judgement from God, Nahum had been filled with righteous anger because of their atrocities. So for Jonah, there would be no good reason to go to that city with an offer of grace and forgiveness. Not only did it make no sense theologically, but if the people of Nineveh did repent, there was a risk that Nahum would be tagged as a false prophet.

As such, Jonah might have been able to use Nahum’s words to justify his own hatred for the Assyrians. But if he did, he overlooked one element of Nahum’s prophecy: ‘The Lord is slow to get angry. He is very powerful’ (Nahum 1:3).

Let’s be careful about how we ‘use’ Scripture.

We believe it is the inspired Word of God – but our conclusions about it are not, especially when we read it out of context.

Prayer: Your Word is powerful, Lord. May I approach it with maturity and wisdom.

Amen.

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TUES 11 JUL

GOD SPEAKS

READ Jonah 1:1 Matthew 3:13-17

FOCUS A message from the Lord came to Jonah.

He was the son of Amittai Jonah 1:1

GOING DEEPER

lifewithlucas.co.uk/ goingdeeper

God speaks. The phrase ‘a message from the Lord’ is mentioned seven times in the book of Jonah. It is the only book in the Bible that begins with this phrase, which appears just over one hundred times in the Old Testament. Just as creation and history were birthed by God speaking – and the ministry of Jesus began at His baptism with the sound of the Father’s voice – so in the story of Jonah, everything that unfolds begins with God’s voice. We’re not told how the word came; sometimes God speaks through dreams, or through a whirlwind, (Job 38). As we feed on the authoritative words of Scripture, God speaks. But His voice is not limited to the printed pages of the Bible: He can speak to us in a ‘still, small voice’ (1 Kings 19:9-13).

Over the last four decades of ministry, I’ve heard Christians say ‘God told me’ so many times. Often later events revealed the Lord had not spoken at all, which was embarrassing, and undermined God’s reputation. Perhaps due to my cynicism or lack of expectation, God has often seemed rather quiet. But recently I’ve been more intentional about listening, and have sensed the voice of the Holy Spirit again. In all this, I’ve wondered: why does ‘the word of the Lord’ often come in a whisper? And perhaps this is the reason: when someone whispers to us, they invite us to come close and concentrate, so we might hear them. By faith today, let’s draw near to God, and be those who have ears to hear Him. Prayer: Speak to me, Lord. I want to be sensitive to Your whisper, and quick to respond. Amen.

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WED 12 JUL

During a recent conversation with two friends, we got onto the subject of faith. One shared that he was a nominal churchgoer, for whom occasional church attendance is really about tradition. The other, a professed atheist, challenged him. ‘What do you mean, nominal?’, she said. ‘If there’s a God, you have to either be all in with Him, or not. At least I’m being honest and consistent with my convictions.’

ALL IN

God spoke to Jonah in a firm, commanding tone. Suddenly he hears, ‘Go’ – in the Hebrew, literally, ‘Get up and go’. Both Elijah and Jeremiah heard exactly the same command (1 Kings 17:9, Jer. 13:6). No explanation for the instruction was offered, no promise of a particular outcome: Jonah was expected to simply respond in obedient trust. And the same is true of us. Faith is not just about feelings, or singing worship songs, or a mere belief system. Jesus put it clearly, even bluntly: ‘If you love me, you will obey what I command’ (John 14:15).

READ Jonah 1:1-2 John 14:15-31

FOCUS The Lord said, ‘Go…’ Jonah 1:2

There have been times in my own faith journey when obedience to God’s way made little sense, naturally speaking. When we made one of our transatlantic relocations, we had two young children, a place to rent for six months, and no guarantee of an income beyond a promise of £4000 per year, at a time when interest rates were rocketing. But we felt so strongly that we were responding to a command from the Lord, and that He would take care of us. And He has, wonderfully.

Let’s trust and obey, and be ‘all in’.

Prayer: Lord, save me from settling.

I deliberately place myself under Your direction again today. Use me. Amen.

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THU 13 JUL

GO: MISSION

READ Luke 24:36-49 Romans 10:13-15

FOCUS People from every nation will hear it, beginning at Jerusalem.

Luke 24:47

Recently I watched my friend George Verwer, the founder of Operation Mobilisation, give his final blog. He used most of his five-minute message to appeal for yet more funds for global mission, the cause to which he gave his life. He died two days later.

Yesterday we saw that God commissioned Jonah to go. Infamously, he refused. But perhaps we can also resist God’s call. A recent report in Premier’s Christianity magazine revealed that around half of evangelical believers in the UK no longer think sharing their faith is important. But there is a divine imperative at the heart of mission: the ‘Go’ of God. As we will see, He is passionate about His world and every single person in it.

I’ve written about this elsewhere, but often preachers and teachers (including me, regrettably) have misquoted Francis of Assisi, when we allege that he said, ‘By all means preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.’

In fact, this is a serious distortion. Francis was concerned that Franciscans, the order of monks that he founded, should practice what they preached, but he also used plenty of words, often visiting two or three villages in a day to share the good news of Christ.

Ultimately, we are called to share the gospel with others, not because we want our churches to get bigger, but because the God we love and serve calls us to live out and speak up the good news. And His command is rooted in His heart of compassion, as we’ll see tomorrow.

Prayer: Through a life lived in Your power, may I declare Your truth with my life and words. Amen.

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FRI 14 JUL

GOD WEEPS

READ Jonah 1:1-2 John 11:1-44

FOCUS The Lord said, 'Go to the great city of Nineveh. Preach against it. The sins of its people have come to my attention.’

Jonah 1:2b

As I mentioned earlier, the last few years have been very difficult for us all. As a minister, I was allowed to go into a hospital to be with a member of our congregation who was dying of Covid. One of the saddest days of my life was officiating at the double funeral for him and his wife.

When life becomes a dark trudge, we can be tempted to believe that God is detached from it all, watching on but not really caring.

But He is still passionately involved, as He was here, seeing the suffering, wickedness, and injustice in Nineveh. It was why He called Jonah in the first place. God is not some megalomaniac general, who shunts soldiers around the world map like a calculating chess player. A better translation of the word 'preach’ in Jonah 1:2 is ‘cry to’.

The missionary God cries for his world. In the very last verse of the book of Jonah, God poses the question, ‘Shouldn’t I show concern for that great city?’ (Jonah 4:11). The word ‘concern’ means literally, ‘to have tears in one’s eyes’. We come across this startling portrait of the weeping God again and again in the pages of the New Testament, as Jesus weeps over the city of Jerusalem (Matt. 23:3739), and empathises with Mary’s pain over her dead brother Lazarus.

God agonises over His world and suffers with our suffering: Hosea prophesied about a God whose heart ‘was stirred inside him’ over His people (Hosea 11). God calls because He cries.

Let’s ask Him to make our hearts like His. Prayer: Lord, help me to sense Your tears when I find myself weeping over injustice and pain. Weep through me. Amen.

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WEEKEND 15 - 16 JUL

GREAT CITY, GREATER GOD

READ Psalm 145:1-21 Jonah 1:1-2

GOING DEEPER

lifewithlucas.co.uk/ goingdeeper

The story of Jonah is fairly well known: it is perhaps the most familiar book in the Old Testament. But when asked what the story is about, most people will immediately start talking about a fish (usually a whale, although the text doesn’t say that). As we’ve seen, the story of Jonah is so misunderstood, because the main character in this story is not a fish, or even Jonah himself, but God. The book of Jonah is quite simply an epic celebration of the big God we serve. He is the main focus all the way through, from beginning to end.

The writer of this book enjoys using the word ‘great’, and it appears 14 times. It describes a great city, a great fish, a great wind, great fear, and great anger. But as we pan back from the story for a moment, we see the greatness of God, and, as we celebrated yesterday, His involvement in the small details of life. In Jonah, God speaks and calls; He sees, hears and grieves; He acts in power, sending a storm; He is involved in the details of the sailors casting lots. God is the Creator who sustains everything. And Jonah makes an almost creedal statement as he affirms God as the universal Creator.

In the 48 verses of the book, God is mentioned in 39 of them – as ‘Yahweh’ 22 times, as ‘God’ 13 times, and as ‘Yahweh God of Heaven’ four times. God is great, and He is involved. May that truth be more to us than a statement of faith, but a foundation for our Mondays as well as our Sundays.

To ponder: What do we mean when we affirm that God is great?

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MON 17 JUL

ANOTHER LIFE

READ Jonah 1:3 Romans 1:18-32

FOCUS But Jonah ran away from the Lord.

Jonah 1:3a

In the poignant film American Beauty, the lead character, a telesales operative, becomes disillusioned with his existence, overwhelmed with tedium, and begins to hunger for fresh excitement in his life. One line of dialogue reveals the profound sorrow in his soul. ‘In a year I’ll be dead. But in a way, I’m dead already.’

Our video game/entertainment/leisure culture flourishes because of our hankering to get away, even into totally unreality. Many marriages break down, not because of cataclysmic conflict, but as a result of the devastating erosion that boredom brings.

Exciting fresh pastures beckon, and the grass looks greener.

Get a life – or so the saying goes. Perhaps there are times when we’d like to do just that – trade in our current existence and get another life. We can be tempted to daydream about escaping the daily grind, fleeing the familiar landmarks. We even think about getting away from God, from the moral and spiritual demands of being Christian, even though the truth has been revealed to us: ‘God has made it plain’ (Rom. 1:19).

Jonah actually did run from his previous life.

Unwilling to prophesy to the hated Assyrians, he declared open rebellion against God, and hotfooted to Joppa – 1500 miles in the exact opposite direction of Nineveh. Commanded to go northeast, he went southwest. It results in chaos.

Perhaps some of us are considering taking a similar trip. Let’s think again before we run.

Prayer: Lord, help me to dream, without getting into unhelpful fantasy. Thank You for the reality of today and that You are with me.

Amen.

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TUE 18 JUL

A PRODIGAL PROPHET

READ Luke 15:11-32 Jonah 1:3

FOCUS Not long after that, the younger son packed up all he had. Then he left for a country far away.

Luke 15:13

20

The story of the Prodigal Son is surely the best known of the parables that Jesus taught. The shocking story of the rebellious Jewish kid who not only squandered his family’s wealth with wild living, but ended up snacking with some very un-kosher pigs is familiar. But the focus of the parable eventually turns to the elder brother. This indignant soul is furious with his father for showing grace to his brother, and insists that he has never disobeyed his father’s orders – even as he steadfastly refuses to join the welcome home party! The story of Jonah is a foreshadowing of that parable, because Jonah is both the running prodigal and then the angry, self-righteous elder brother.

There’s more than one way to run from God. We can march away and engage in a lifestyle of obvious rebellion, but there’s a more subtle way to hide from the Lord – in the plain sight of graceless religion. A little church attendance here, a commitment to living a decent life there, and we can feel as though we’ve ‘paid our dues’ to God. In so doing, we avoid Jesus altogether. How many people have been successfully inoculated with a small dose of Sunday-only religiosity that makes little or no difference to Monday mornings? And here I find myself challenged: as a ‘professional Christian’, have I settled down into a comfortable, relatively costless faith, that is more a habit than a passion?

Let’s commit every day to be faithful followers and friends of Jesus.

Prayer: I want to stay close, Jesus, never distanced from You by the madness of sin or the sleep of empty religion. Keep me by Your side. Amen.

WED 19 JUL

ALL DOWNHILL

READ Jonah 1:3 Hebrews 3:7-19

As a (very) occasional runner, I have come to fear the downhill part of my jog. Heading downhill is the most dangerous part of my run; not only am I in danger of muscle and back strain, but the incline makes me speed up – ruining the pace of my workout, and sapping my stamina. It’s difficult to keep an even keel when you’re headed down. Even the pounding uphill slog is better than the torture of trying to put the brakes on during the downhill run.

There are lots of symbolic ‘ups and downs’ in the book of Jonah. It’s no accident that Jonah goes down to Joppa – then down into the depth of the boat, and thereafter plummets into a deep sleep – the word here means ‘dead sleep’, most likely the fruit of severe exhaustion and depression. The man who was invited to step up to the noble calling as a representative of God is headed downhill fast. In every way, his life went south.

Disobedience leads to descent.

When we deliberately rebel against God, we shouldn’t assume that everything will eventually straighten out. On the contrary, our hearts may get harder as we resist even God’s most furious attempts to get our attention.

Rebellion is no plateau, but a downward spiral.

FOCUS He headed for Tarshish. So he went down to the port of Joppa.

Jonah 1:3

In his downhill trek, Jonah lost his ability to hear God’s gentle voice, and almost lost his life too. There’s no such thing as a controlled descent when we’re disobeying God. Let’s wake up, take our fingers out of our ears, and do what He says.

Prayer: Lord, keep my heart tender towards You. Correct me when I stray and save me from deception that will lead me downhill.

Amen.

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THU 20 JUL

TARSHISH

READ Jonah 1:3 Luke 22:54-62

FOCUS He paid the fare and went on board.

Then he sailed for Tarshish.

Jonah 1:3

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4

As we hear that the fugitive Jonah ran away, the writer of the story wants to emphasise where he was headed to. We’re told no less than three times in one verse that his destination was Tarshish. Let’s not miss the point that the writer was making. In Old Testament times, Tarshish, in the southern part of Spain, was thought to be ‘the ends of the earth’. At that time, it would take a ship one whole year to sail to Tarshish and return.

Tarshish was, in fact, a byword for a faraway place, in the same way that we use the word ‘Timbuktu’. Tarshish was also in the West, where the sun died each evening – a place of darkness. Sheldon Blank, a rabbi and biblical scholar, wrote: ‘What is Tarshish? In the story of Jonah it is anywhere – anywhere but the right place; it is the opposite direction, it is the direction a person takes when he or she turns their back on their destiny.’4 Moreover, when we read the detail that Jonah ‘paid the fare’, the Hebrew is literally, ‘He paid “her” (the ship’s) fare’. This has led some to believe that Jonah chartered the whole vessel, making it a very expensive trip. While we can’t be certain about that, obviously unfaithfulness to God is costly, as Peter tearfully discovered after he’d denied Jesus. The choices we make can cost us our reputation, our marriage, our opportunity to serve – and ultimately, the joy of living in the centre of God’s beautiful purposes for our lives. What’s our Tarshish?

Prayer: Father, when temptation comes, remind me of the costliness of poor choices. May I be awake and alert to You. Amen.

Quoted in Nixon, R, The Message of Jonah, (Westmont, 2003) p67

FRI 21 JUL

ISOLATED

As we saw yesterday, the writer of the book of Jonah emphasised Jonah’s destination three times, and underlined the folly of his impulsive dash by twice affirming that he was running from God Himself. Jonah ran first to Joppa, an area that was never part of Israel during Old Testament times. One commentator remarks: ‘Jonah hopes to avoid further revelatory contact with Israel’s God by going someplace where there are no Israelites.

Jonah chose a port where the people he might meet, and the ships he could hire, were not likely to be Israelite. Once in Joppa he was already partly ‘away from Yahweh’ as he apparently conceived it. Jonah, the ardent nationalist, therefore, attempted to flee to a place where no fellow believers would be found, hoping that this would help insure that God’s word would not come to him again.’ 5

READ Jonah 1:3 Hebrews 10:19-25

Something sparks when we are with other believers – and Jonah was desperate to avoid that potential spark.

FOCUS So he went down to the port of Joppa.

There he found a ship that was going to Tarshish.

Jonah 1:3

One devastating effect of Covid was that churches were unable to gather for an unprecedented time. But now (hopefully) that season has past, many believers have not returned for worship, teaching, prayer and fellowship. Some simply say they have got out of the habit. While online viewing is surely a blessing, I believe it is not a substitute for being and serving together. Christians in the persecuted church risk their lives because they prize being together. Are we out of the habit? Maybe it’s time to change.

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for the privilege of being part of Your church. Bless the church that I call my home, and may I be a blessing.

Amen.

5

Stuart, D, Hosea–Jonah: Vol. 31, (Waco, Texas: Word, Incorporated, 1987) p450

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WEEKEND 22 - 23 JUL

GOD RUNS TOO

READ Luke 15:11-32 Philippians 2:5-11

GOING DEEPER

lifewithlucas.co.uk/ goingdeeper

Before moving on, I’d like us to return to the parable of the Prodigal. But first, having considered Jonah running away from God, I’d like us to celebrate the truth that our God runs towards us. I’m convinced the father figure in the parable is Jesus; He was defending His behaviour when criticised by the Pharisees, and Christ is the One who has ‘run out to us’ in the incarnation, as Paul celebrates in his letter to the church in Philippi.

The sprinting father in this story demanded that a ring, a robe, and new shoes be brought ‘quickly’. Why the sprint, and the urgency for the celebrations to begin? It was because, in those days, if a young man brought disgrace upon his family, and then tried to return home to his village, the people would gather to intercept him. A terrible ceremony of rejection would follow: parched nuts and corn would be placed into a jar, which would be held in his face, and then smashed, signifying the final shattering of the relationship between him, the family and the village. So when the father raced towards his son, and demanded that welcome celebrations begin, he was getting there before a rejection ceremony could begin. He exclaimed his son was dead, but now was alive again, and then the celebration begins.

It is a noisy party, and the elder brother hears the sound of music from a distance. In the race between grace and judgement, grace wins the race, and celebrates homecomings!

Hallelujah!

To ponder: Does the picture of the Lord, sprinting towards you, seem strange?

If so, why?

24

MON 24 JUL

A PERFECT STORM

READ Jonah 1:4 Psalm 115:1-18

FOCUS But the Lord sent a strong wind over the Mediterranean Sea. A wild storm came up.

Jonah 1:4

God is not resisted easily. The fugitive prophet’s cruise away from his calling turned into a battle for survival, as a great storm overwhelmed the ship: the language in the Hebrew text paints a picture of God ‘hurling' the perfect storm at the ship in the same way a spear is thrown. God has the weather firmly under control (Psa. 135:7) – it’s just His people who offer more resistance.

So why did God insist on pursuing Jonah?

If the runaway wasn’t interested in accepting the Nineveh assignment, then presumably there were others who would quickly step forward to become God’s ambassador to the Assyrians.

But for whatever reason, Jonah was the chosen instrument for this task. Sometimes we resist God’s call because we feel inadequate, or because it will cause too much disruption; we have other plans. The Lord was passionate that Jonah be a man of destiny. Even though the moment was overshadowed by anger and petulance, Jonah was being steered by God to walk into his finest hour – the potential exhilaration of seeing an entire city, from the king down to the domestic pets, turn towards the Lord en masse. Each one of us was designed for purpose; God invites us, not to merely chase after our small ambitions, but to play our unique part in His kingdom plan.

God cares deeply that we reach our potential.

Our reluctance to serve Him doesn’t create a mere raised eyebrow in heaven, but a wounded heart. He doesn’t easily take no for an answer.

Prayer: Father, I want to learn to really live.

What plans have You written over my life?

Amen.

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TUE 25 JUL

IT’S MY LIFE

READ Jonah 1:4 Ephesians 4:22-32

FOCUS It was so wild that the ship was in danger of breaking apart.

Jonah 1:4

When we are challenged about our bad behaviour, we will often say ‘It’s my life, and I can do what I want with it. As long as I’m not hurting anybody, what I do is nobody else’s business.’ That idea is a central tenet of the political philosophy first proposed by the English philosopher, John Stuart Mill. But the statement is rarely true. Bad choices create repercussions that reverberate beyond us.

We don’t live in a vacuum. The person who has a casual fling may break the hearts of their partner, and leave their children bereft; the banker who makes unethical investments might reap a fat profit but wreak havoc in the lives of others. The lust-enflamed consumer of pornography feeds an industry that shames and even traffics the vulnerable. And even the one whose lifestyle choices bring sickness and premature death to themselves, brings grief and loneliness to those closest to them.

The sailors in Jonah’s story were just going about their business. As we will see, they acted more nobly than Jonah, the socalled man of God. But his wilful rebellion placed them in a place of fear and very real danger. And in an interesting literal twist, even the ship is personified in this episode.

One translation (the NIV) says, ‘the ship threatened to break up’. Inanimate objects don’t threaten anything or anybody, but here the author wants us to know how everyone and everything was endangered because of Jonah’s defiance. What we do affects others.

We are called to kindness and care. Are we hurting someone with our choices?

Prayer: Father, with the knowledge that my choices have impact beyond myself, help me to walk wisely today. Amen.

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WED 26 JUL

HELP!

READ Jonah 1:5 Psalm 46:1-11

FOCUS All of the sailors were afraid. Each one cried out to his own god for help.

Jonah 1:5

It’s interesting to see how various commentators address the news that the terrified sailors responded to the storm, which must have been huge to create fear in such seasoned mariners. One scholar rather snootily dismisses their praying because ‘they were calling out for assistance, not in repentance’. But that’s unfair, as we shall see, for those same sailors would cast lots to see whose sin it was that had caused the storm. They showed at least that much moral concern, although it was surely fuelled by a desire to survive! Others are more positive about the sailors’ prayerful response, even though it was to false gods – at least they were looking beyond themselves for help.

Sometimes the only prayer I can offer is, ‘God, please help!’ And I think it’s a prayer that God welcomes. As the Psalmist celebrates the God who ‘is always there to help us in times of trouble’ (Psa. 46:1), he uses words that portray God who is close and sufficient for any situation.

Recently I had a conversation with a formerly successful businessman. Now, with the current economic challenges, he is facing very real difficulties. I asked him if he regularly brought his concerns and worries to God in prayer. ‘Oh no’, he insisted, ‘I pray for others, but it seems selfish for me to pray for my own situation.’ And he was quite wrong.

God wants us to ‘turn all [our] worries over to him. He cares about [us]’ (1 Pet. 5:7). Are we anxious, or bewildered? Let’s yell ‘help’.

Prayer: Lord, please help. Amen.

27

THU 27 JUL

SOUND ASLEEP

READ Jonah 1:5 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

FOCUS But Jonah had gone below deck. There he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.

Jonah 1:5

We might wonder how Jonah managed to sleep through such a ferocious storm.

An unusual word for sleep is used here, which suggests that he was in a deep, even hypnotic state. The word tarde mâ is translated fast asleep, a dead sleep, almost anaesthetised. Some suggest that Jonah was exhausted and depressed because he was wilfully running from God. What a contrast he is to our Jesus who slept during a storm (Mark 4:35-41). Though both were tired, Jesus was exhausted after a weary day’s work of serving the Father’s purposes, while Jonah was determined to avoid God’s plans.

The Bible frequently uses sleep as a metaphor to call us to be spiritually alert and intentional. Life doesn’t work when we drift into a cruise control mentality. Prayer is neglected; we might make poor choices about diet and alcohol intake, and exercise falls by the wayside. And as sleeping Jonah was oblivious to the plight of the terrified ship’s crew, we can nod off into a self-centred existence, wrapped up in our own world, indifferent to the needs of others.

Jesus called the Christians in Sardis to ‘Wake up!’ (Rev. 3:2). They still had work to do. And Jesus used the picture of sleep in the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (Matt. 25: 1-13). One commentator remarks, ‘Even through the roaring of the wind and the tossing of the ship, Jonah remained asleep, as dead to the world as he was to God.’6 Today, let’s be clear-minded and focused – and wide awake.

Prayer: I want to be wide awake in life, Lord – focused, diligent, alert and fully alive in every moment. Amen.

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6

Smith, B K, & Page, F S, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah: Vol. 19B, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995) p230.

FRI 28 JUL

TRUTH

READ Jonah 1:6 Numbers 22:21-41

FOCUS The captain went down to him and said, ‘How can you sleep? Get up and call out to your god for help!’

Jonah 1:6

It was one of those strange, ‘I’ve been here before’ moments. Sound asleep, Jonah was shaken by the ship’s captain, who just happened to repeat God’s original command to Jonah to ‘rise up and call’. A polytheist (who probably had many gods and goddesses in his belief system) was reminding Jonah of his commission, and that he was a fugitive from God. For some reason we tend to think the Church has a total monopoly on truth and that everything that doesn’t originate from her is fallen wisdom. But I often hear the heartbeat of God expressed by those who don’t profess to follow Him or love Him at all. Truth can be found in unusual places. Hollywood is an example. Some films make prophetic statements about the human condition – echoing God’s Word as they do so. Two Jim Carrey films, The Truman Show and Bruce Almighty, are crammed with amazing insights about grace. Perhaps some Christian screenwriters were involved...

And great truths can be found in music. I’ve come to believe that there’s no such thing as ‘Christian’ music – just music that’s good, bad, or indifferent. In their descriptions of beauty and their teaching of truth, we can be both challenged and delighted by the melodies and lyrics of poets and songwriters.

Let’s remember that God is not a localised deity who lives in the cloisters of the Church.

He can speak through a donkey if He wants!

(Num. 22:28). We may hear His voice today through the most unexpected sources.

Prayer: Lord, may I be attentive as I navigate life, eager to hear Your whisper, even when I least expect it. Amen.

29

WEEKEND 29 - 30 JUL

HIS KINGDOM FIRST

READ Jonah 1:7-9 Matthew 6:25-33

GOING DEEPER

lifewithlucas.co.uk/ goingdeeper

As lots are cast, Jonah sat perhaps sullen and silent while the sailors went through the torturous process of casting. Finally, he is exposed as the guilty party, and the sailors quiz the fugitive prophet with five quick-fire questions. And incredibly, Jonah ignores the first two. He doesn’t confirm that the lot casting is correct, and he says nothing about his work – mainly because he’s not doing the prophetic work that God called him to!

Just as Jonah had been tight-lipped when God called him, now he initially tries the same approach with the enquiring mariners.

But then it gets worse. Jonah announces, ‘I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord. He is the God of heaven.’ At first glance this looks like a moment of breakthrough: finally Jonah is affirming his faith, clarifying his identity.

But notice that Jonah speaks of his ethnicity before he describes his spirituality. And that might be the root of his problem, because as a fierce nationalist, he was more concerned about Israel (and refused to minister to her enemies) than obeying God. Writing in the 1930s, in his book The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis argues that love of country can be twisted into an idol – if we put anything, including our nation, before God, we embrace idolatry. Just how dangerous this can be was becoming obvious in Nazi Germany. When our political views become primary, and our commitment to the kingdom of God is secondary, we’re missing the call of Jesus – to seek His kingdom first.

To ponder: Look at today’s Going Deeper. Are there any signs of misguided nationalism in us?

30

MON 31 JUL

HYPOCRITE

READ Jonah 1:9-10 James 4:1-17

FOCUS ‘I’m a Hebrew.

I worship the Lord.

He is the God of heaven. He made the sea and the land.’

Jonah 1:9

I was talking with a man who had been imprisoned for fraud, was estranged from his children, and currently cheating on his wife, with multiple partners. ‘Do you have a faith?’, I ventured. ‘Of course’, he nodded. ‘I’m a Christian.’ Despite a great deal of evidence to the contrary, he parroted his response, apparently oblivious to the gap between his faith profession and his lifestyle.

As we pause for a moment and look even closer at the moment when Jonah finally affirms who he is, we notice a similar pattern.

Jonah insists that he worships God – the word used there is often translated fear – a reverent respect and commitment to the God who made everything. But Jonah’s words stand in stark contradiction to his actions.

His attitude reflects the same duality of the one who says, ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’ Jonah affirms that God made the sea – and then uses the sea as a means of escape from the God who made that sea!

Let’s allow this episode to challenge us.

When asked, I quickly affirm I am a follower of Jesus, but I need to ensure that my statement is up to date. How easily we can give our lives to Jesus, only to gradually, even unconsciously, take them back again.

Slowly, without realising, we start making key decisions without counsel or prayer.

Career ambitions or income become primary concerns. James, in his hard-hitting epistle, confronts that kind of attitude as he calls us to submit our plans to the will of God. Prayer: Father, I don’t want to lie to others, or myself, because I have drifted away from living wholeheartedly for You. Help me, please. Amen.

31

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Some highlights of the visit will be to biblical locations where Jesus walked such as the Sea of Galilee, Caeserea Philippi, Capernaum, the Mount of Beatitudes, and the garden of Gethsemane. We will also visit the Dead Sea, Masada and Qumran, the Garden Tomb, walk the streets of the old city of Jerusalem, and visit the Western (Wailing) Wall.

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What previous guests have said: This trip is life-changing and highly addictive – you will want to return again and again... It was so valuable having local guides and the knowledge they are able to impart is so rich. – Lisa Thank you, Jeff and Kay, for all that you organised, for the experiences you gave us, for the wisdom you imparted to us and for the love you showed us.

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To register your interest so that you are among the first to get all the information you need, visit: www.jefflucas.org 33

TUE 01 AUG

CONTRAST

READ Jonah 1:11-15 Matthew 5:1-16

FOCUS Then they cried out to the Lord.

They prayed, ‘Lord, please don’t let us die for taking this man’s life.’

Jonah 1:14

I remember the day when my hairdresser made me cry – and it had nothing to do with her handiwork with my hair. She always did well, considering the limited resources that she worked with. As far as I know, she is not a professing Christian. She had just decided to take a fairly troubled 19-year-old into her home. He has had a turbulent upbringing, punctuated by continual abuse, but she and her husband have determined to show him some real love, at great personal cost to them.

And this is a long-term commitment. ‘Every time he’s messed up, he’s been kicked out.

We want to show him something different.’

The contrast between the pagan sailors and Jonah is stark. They work hard to save the ship while he sleeps. They do everything they can to avoid turning Jonah overboard, risking their own lives to try to save his. And they prayed – to the real God this time – that they would not be held accountable for the death of a man who might be innocent.

The writer emphasises the name of the true God to whom they prayed – He is the Lord, stated three times. The sailors have come to understand the truth about God through this painful storm, but this is despite Jonah, not because of him.

Jonah seemed untroubled by his own sin – and had risked the lives of everybody on board with his wilful rebellion. Sometimes those outside the Christian family shame us. God helping us, let’s be beacon people, living as salt and light in a world that so needs Christ.

Prayer: Lord, bring good people to Yourself and make them godly. And make ‘godly’ people good. Amen.

34

WED 02 AUG

GOODBYE JONAH, HELLO GOD

READ Jonah 1:15 Matthew 23:13-33

FOCUS Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard.

And the stormy sea became calm.

Jonah 1:15

The story of a singer in a local dance band is heartbreaking. Her passionately ‘committed’ Christian parents told her that they considered her dead, seeing she is now ‘fraternising with the world’. Nor had they been too thrilled when she took a homeless gentleman (who also happened to be black) to their home for Christmas. I felt raw anger as I watched the tears roll down her cheeks. She had been battered and bruised, and all in the name of Christ.

Jonah was supposed to be a bringer of blessing – but here, it was only once he was off the scene that the sea grew calm, (an amazing sign to the stunned mariners), and a shipboard revival breaks out. As he is hurled into the massive waves, the smile of God appears from behind the clouds.

When a church has developed an abusive culture, where leaders dominate or bully, change is needed. Some leaders use the word loyalty in order to silence dissent, but the Bible never calls us to loyalty, blind or otherwise, but to faithfulness. Being faithful will at times call for difficult conversations and radical changes. I’m not suggesting that bullying leaders should be cast into the sea (!) but challenging or even replacing them might be the first step to a healthier church culture.

The apostle John refused to back away from hard conversations about a bullying leader.

Writing about the aggressive Diotrephes, he pledged, ‘so when I come, I will point out what he is doing. He is saying evil things about us to others’ (3 John 10).’

Prayer: Father, I pray that all those who exercise authority in Your church will lead with compassion, faithfulness, and servant hearts. Amen. .

35

THU 03 AUG

MAN OVERBOARD

READ Jonah 1:15 Hebrews 4:14-16

Let’s look at this moment, when Jonah was hurled overboard, from a different angle. Here’s a confession: when I first discovered the story of Jonah, I really didn’t like this part. It seemed like God was being vengeful, petty even: you disobeyed me, Jonah, so now I’m coming for you.

I want to be careful here, and propose a question rather than make statements. On the one hand, Jonah is finally starting to fulfil a prophetic role again, promising that if he is thrown into the boiling sea, all will be calm.

But notice that nowhere does Jonah say that God has commanded that he drown, which has led some commentators to think that perhaps he believed himself to be past the point where he could be forgiven.

‘He could have sought forgiveness during the storm (as the Ninevites do later) and committed himself to go to Nineveh. But perhaps he believes that too much ‘water had passed under his ship’ by this time.

Perhaps he is not sure that his repentance would bring forgiveness. He prefers to believe (wants to believe?!) in a God who only judges and does not forgive.’7 Certainly, Jonah seemed to think that God wanted him in the water! (Jonah 2:3)

FOCUS Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard.

And the stormy sea became calm.

Jonah 1:15

Later Jonah would struggle with the idea that God could pardon the despised people of Nineveh. Whether the radical proposal to consign Jonah to the waves was God’s plan or not, this much is true: most of us struggle with shame. As we’ll see tomorrow, we need to allow grace to rescue us. Grace is enough.

Prayer: Jesus, when the truth of Your grace becomes an idea but not a reality that frees me from shame, renew me with Your love.

Amen.

36

7

Bruckner, J, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, (Grand Rapids, TN; Zondervan Publishing House, 2004) p47

FRI 04 AUG

RESCUED

BY GRACE

READ Jonah 1:1-17 Ephesians 3:14-21

FOCUS Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah.

Jonah 1:17

I love surprising endings. I enjoy those final twists in a film or a book, when something utterly shocking unfolds. It might sound a little irreverent to say it, but as we see a fish under command literally showing up out of the blue to rescue Jonah, we realise that our God really is a shocker.

One moment, Jonah is mid-air above the mountainous waves, catapulted overboard by those tearful sailors – and then suddenly he is safe. When he went over the side, he was a man facing certain death. The grace period for his rebellion had run out – or so he thought – and as he hit the water, there was only terror as the boiling waters immediately overwhelmed him. Perhaps he bobbed back to the surface for a moment and screamed out a final, exhausted prayer. In a storm like this, it would be just seconds before he would succumb. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined a rescue bid. He was nowhere near land: the sailors had tried to row there, without success.

But everything turns around in a moment for the dead man swimming as a missionary fish shows up for lunch. Perhaps he caught a glimpse of the huge fish (which some commentators say may have been a large shark) approaching him, mouth wide open.

The notion that a predator could be his rescuer would not have occurred to him.

But that’s the way God is. Grace really is amazing. Can’t figure it out? Let’s accept it, like a lifebelt – or a passing fish – to a drowning man.

Prayer: Forgive me for boxing You in, or for resisting Your grace, dear Lord. Surprise me with Your grace today. And help me to pass it on. Amen.

37

WEEKEND 05 - 06 AUG

OUR GREAT GOD – AGAIN

READ Jonah 1:17 Ephesians 3:14-21

Life often serves up situations that can be described in just one word: impossible.

Humanly speaking, there’s no way that anything can change, and the end is a foregone conclusion. But as we saw at the beginning of our journey with Jonah, with God, all things are possible. Some conservative scholars have searched for a way to explain how a human being can remain alive inside a fish for three days. They’ve looked for a species with a mouth large enough to swallow a man, and even speculated that God might have made some design amendments to that particular fish to accommodate Jonah.

But none of this is necessary. The writer of the story is not concerned to tell us how the event happened, only that it did happen. And the wording of the episode tells us that God ‘ordained’ or ‘appointed’ the fish. That word is used four times in the Book of Jonah: God is the Lord who appoints the creatures of the sea, gives commands to plants (4:6), worms (4:7), and the wind (4:8).

I said this earlier, but it bears repeating: sometimes it’s really hard to hold on to the truth of the greatness and power of God, especially when we find ourselves stuck in a place where nothing is happening to change things, and our prayers seem unheard or, worse still, ignored. As I write, I find myself in that place right now. If you’re staring at the impossible, may you be strengthened with grace to trust, and faith to continue to look for God’s intervention.

To ponder: What might be dubbed ‘impossible’ in your life right now?

38

MON 07 AUG

JESUS IS GREATER

READ Luke 11:29-32 Matthew 12:38-42

FOCUS ‘The men of Nineveh turned away from their sins when Jonah preached to them.

And now one who is more important than Jonah is here.’

Luke 11:32

Jonah is a ‘type’ of Jesus Christ. That doesn’t mean that he is Jesus, but rather that his life and ministry points forward to the life and work of Christ. And Jesus used the story of Jonah to speak both of the need for genuine repentance (which the Pharisees and teachers of the law stubbornly resisted) and then His own redemptive work – just as Jonah spent three days inside the fish, so Jesus would go down into death and the grave, before rising again. But as we’ve considered the faults and fragilities of Jonah, the teaching of Christ reminds us that we follow One who is far greater.

Jonah was nationalistic and selfish – Jesus welcomed despised Samaritans and tax collectors. Jonah ran from God’s commands, but Jesus embraced the will of the Father with gladness. Jonah felt that his ideas were better than God’s plans, but Jesus submitted Himself to God, even in the Garden of Gethsemane when He was so close to the horrors of the cross. Jonah was delivered from death, but Jesus went through death itself and conquered it forever. His obedience was perfect, and His wisdom outshines even that of the legendary Solomon, reputedly the wisest king of all antiquity. And Jonah is now long dead – but the Christ that we love and serve is alive forevermore. One day He will return, and every knee will bow.

Jesus is quite literally the greatest of all – let’s celebrate and worship the Name that is higher than every other name!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. And You are my rescuer. I worship You with words and life. Amen.

39

TUE 08 AUG

REPENT!

READ Isaiah 30:15-22 Jonah 2:1-10

FOCUS The Lord and King is the Holy One of Israel. He says, ‘You will find peace and rest when you turn away from your sins and depend on me.’

Isaiah 30:15

GOING DEEPER

lifewithlucas.co.uk/ goingdeeper

Love, according to the classic weepy film Love Story, ‘means never having to say you’re sorry’. This is surely one of the most ridiculous statements of all time. All relationships need repair sooner or later, and anyone who cruises through life thinking that restoration happens automatically, without showing remorse and repentance for their mistakes, will quickly find out how wrong they are – and they may lose friends, and indeed lovers, in the process.

The second chapter of Jonah shows us that repentance is a bridge to better days, and is at the heart of the Christian message. This section of the Jonah text has been read for centuries on the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur – the most solemn fast day in the Jewish liturgical year. Even today, Yom Kippur marks the time when Jewish people come in penitence before the Lord and seek restoration with the human community, including not only their immediate circle of family, friends and colleagues, but also the wider human community of peoples and nations. It’s good to feel guilty when we are guilty – when that sorrow leads us to genuinely repent (2 Cor. 7:10). But was Jonah really repentant – or was he actually pompous enough to turn a fish’s stomach?

Over the next few days, we’ll explore repentance together – and let’s do so with hearts open to the Holy Spirit, ready not just to gather information about repentance, but to respond to the convicting promptings that the Spirit might bring.

Prayer: I want to be quick to turn when I stray, Father. Show me where repentance is needed in my life. Amen.

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WED 09 AUG

IN THE FISH

READ Jonah 2:1 Psalm 51:1-19

FOCUS From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God Jonah 2:1

The fading bumper sticker says, ‘Smile, God loves you.’ But there’s more to the Christian message than a call to grin about grace.

The love of God will at times provoke us to tears. Repentance is at the very heart of New Testament Christianity.

When John the Baptist appeared, with his odd clothes and odder diet, his opening words were a call to true penitence, backed up by the fruit of changed lifestyle (Matt.

3:8). And when Jesus began to preach, His opening message called people to repent: ‘Turn away from your sins!’ He said. ‘The kingdom of heaven is near’ (Matt. 4:17) Repentance is not something negative; on the contrary, it’s part of the good news, as a bridge to life (Acts 11:18) and freedom that opens up our horizons to a brighter future.

God wants us to be a people of repentance, not because He is a killjoy, but because He cares. So Paul shows us that ‘God’s kindness is meant to turn [us] away from [our] sins’ (Rom. 2:4).

And it begins today, where we are. The gut of a fish is an odd chapel, but it worked well enough for Jonah, and he begins a repentance of sorts: as I’ve said, scholars are divided about how sincere he was. But as he cries, dawn starts to appear in his story. If God is gently prompting us about changes in our lives, let’s not wait for a better time, or a better place before we respond. However low we’ve gone, and however deep we find ourselves entrenched in the mess we’ve made, there’s a way back. We start where we are.

Prayer: Where sin has hardened me, take me on a journey of renewed repentance, Lord. Amen.

41

THU 10 AUG

THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

READ Jonah 2:1-2 Psalm 50:1-15

FOCUS ‘When I was in trouble, I called out to the Lord. And he answered me.’

Jonah 2:2a

Jonah was a tough nut to crack. Entombed in darkness for 72 hours, and surely feeling close to death, he could have easily lost his mind – but instead, he starts to come to his senses. At the end of his tether, he re-establishes communication with the Lord.

But trouble was the unwelcome teacher that drove him to call out to God once more – the first time that he prays in this whole story.

Some of us have to tread some really hard pathways before we learn the lessons of life. Only yesterday I spoke with a minister whose son had been jailed for drug-dealing.

He and his wife wept as they recounted their decision not to bail him out, feeling that it was more faithful to let him face the consequences of his lifestyle. They could have spared him discomfort, but excused him a vital lesson. That young man finally got tired of a life without God, and made a radical decision to live for Christ.

It’s surely the hardest prayer to pray, but there are situations when we need to ask God to do whatever it takes to bring someone back to himself. That certainly doesn’t mean that we wish them harm, or stop loving or practically caring for them, but to allow someone dear to us to learn that fugitives end up down in the mouth may be a great act of love.

And when they do yell for help, God instantly hears. He immediately responds to the cry of those who decide they want Him, even if it’s trouble that has led them to that choice.

Prayer: Lord, when people I love make huge mistakes, redeem those moments.

May distress be a teacher, rather than a destroyer of hope. Amen.

42

FRI 11 AUG

DID GOD DO IT?

READ Matthew 6:1-15 Jonah 2:3

FOCUS ‘May your kingdom come. May what you want to happen be done.’

Matthew 6:10

Today I want to return to a question that I raised earlier. Was it really God’s plan that Jonah was thrown overboard by the sailors? Jonah seemed to think the Lord was responsible for this. In posing this question, I need you to know that I am breaking step with just about every commentator I have studied. They all look to the idea of the sovereignty of God – God ultimately controlling all events, even evil. But I don’t believe that everything that happens is ultimately directed by God and is His will.

If that is the case, why do we pray ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done?’ That said, this is a huge issue and can’t be resolved in a few sentences. But the question must be posed. It's also possible that the sailors thought that throwing Jonah overboard was an act of sacrifice to their gods.

And then, as we’ll see, although Jonah was repeatedly quoting Scripture in his prayer – truths – his application of those truths was mostly erroneous. Jonah’s prayer was a mixture of truth and deception – later we will consider his perception that he was ‘driven away’, when the reality is that he ignored God and ran from Him. So why do I raise the question? Some readers have experienced terrible tragedy, and have been told that, ultimately, ‘It’s all part of God’s will.’ But today, it’s not part of God’s sovereign will that babies are trafficked, warmongers plunder, and predators rape and abuse. So did God want Jonah tossed into the sea? Just asking.

Prayer: May Your kingdom come. May what You want to happen be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Amen.

43

WEEKEND 12 -13 AUG

LITURGY AND MEMORY

READ Jonah 2:3 Psalm 18:1-19

I don’t come from a church tradition that uses formal liturgy much in worship. And, as being sent to Sunday school was not part of my upbringing, I wasn’t taught to memorise Bible verses either. One of my great regrets is that, as a rather arrogant younger leader, I took a dim view of liturgy. While it’s true that any spiritual practice can become mechanical and meaningless over time, that’s also true of so-called ‘freer’ expressions of more informal worship. In latter years, I’ve realised the power of liturgy and indeed consigning Scripture to memory. Sometimes life can render us speechless, and we don’t talk to God because we don’t know how to begin.

When we look closely at Jonah’s prayer, we see that he was quoting verses from the Psalms: Jonah 2:3 echoes Psalm 42:7; Jonah 2:7 reflects Psalm 18:4-6, and so on. There are eight quotes from the Psalms in Jonah’s prayer. Even though, as I’ve said, he probably misused the texts, it’s good that he was able to bring them to mind!

Committing Scripture to memory is a healthy habit, as we wash our minds in pure truth and can then recall it in times of struggle.

In a world where we are bombarded with erroneous ideas, knowing the ‘straight edge’ of Scripture in a survival tool. And if liturgy isn’t part of our tradition, why don’t we take the opportunity to use it in our prayer times? As we do, let’s make sure that we use the words of others thoughtfully and wholeheartedly.

To ponder: ‘Any spiritual practice can become mechanical and meaningless.’

Have you found that to be true in your tradition?

44

MON 14 AUG

EXPOSING DECEPTION

READ James 1:1-18 Jonah 2:4

FOCUS ‘But your own evil longings tempt you.

They lead you on and drag you away,’ James 1:14

GOING DEEPER

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The frequent flier madness that occasionally takes over my life means there are literally times when I wake up in the middle of the night in a hotel, and as I peer up at the ceiling, for a few moments I have no idea which country I am in. Jet lag has disorientated me, temporarily disabling my memory, and the darkened room offers me no clue. And I don’t even know where the elusive light switch is.

More than once I have felt my way around the walls, so I can flip the switch and check where I am on the planet.

A steadfast commitment to sin will always produce something similar in our lives.

Deception is married to rebellion, and when we join Jonah on a jog away from God, we end up losing our ability to see straight. And that deception is a thick fog, hard to shift.

Perhaps there was a residue of it in Jonah’s complaint that he had been banished – driven away – from God’s sight (v.4). That’s just not true.

Jonah was a fugitive, not an exile. It’s ironic that the man who ran a marathon away from God then complained he had been rejected.

Turning away from God takes us into the twilight zone when our faults are someone else’s fault, our rebelliousness can be rationalised, and what are outright sins seem sensible.

James makes it clear: when we go astray, we are dragged off course by our own evil longings. May God help us to see the truth about ourselves, especially when we are quoting Scripture, or even blaming Him for our poor choices!

Prayer: Spirit of truth, lead me and keep me in all truth. Amen.

45

TUE 15 AUG

DON’T SNACK ON CAMELS

READ Jonah 2:4b Luke 11:39-44

FOCUS ‘But I will look again toward your holy temple in Jerusalem.’

Jonah 2:4b

We saw yesterday that sin deceives us; ironically, religion can do the same. Religious people are often meticulous about being right about righteousness. Sadly, sometimes we prioritise issues that God doesn’t care about – while ignoring what He is passionate about. The Pharisees famously fussed about theological minutiae and washed their hands before touching the Torah scrolls, yet were happy to stone their fellow human beings (especially the more spectacular sinners caught in the act). Their spirituality was selective and blinded them to their real deficiencies. The ridiculous word picture that Jesus drew of them, desperately trying to fish a tiny gnat out of a drink, yet gulping down a huge camel without hesitation (Matt. 23:24), shows how easily we can major on minors and ignore what really matters.

At first Jonah’s prayer about the Temple seems like a pious declaration of hope; but eagle-eyed commentators have spotted a possible flaw. Of course, Jerusalem-loving Jonah would say that, wouldn’t he? But his problems all began because his call was to hated Nineveh, not the comfort of home.

Perhaps it’s reading too much into his words, but the fury that later ignited in his heart suggests his repentance was at best fragile and incomplete.

Let’s avoid a mutated Christianity where we are smugly convinced God is delighted with us because we can check a few superficial boxes. Let’s ask Him what really matters to Him, and do what He says.

Prayer: Save me, Lord, from minimising the important and magnifying the insignificant.

Amen.

46

WED 16 AUG

THAT SINKING FEELING

READ Jonah 2:5 Psalm 69:1-36

FOCUS ‘I had almost drowned in the waves. The deep waters were all around me.

Seaweed was wrapped around my head.’

Jonah 2:5

The church building was emblazoned by a fluorescent orange poster. It carried but two words in thick, gothic script: ‘Jesus saves!’

One passer-by was obviously not initiated in such language, and wanted to know why our Lord was being applauded for His thrifty saving habits.

These days, we don’t often hear people using the term, ‘saved’ – so we’d do well to remind ourselves that God is our ultimate rescuer.

Jonah was in really dire straits – fighting for air in the choppy waves, marooned in fathoms of dark water, and even tangled up in suffocating seaweed – he was in a real mess, and could do nothing to save himself.

But God brought his life up. And He’s done the same for us. The cross declares God’s utter power and our total helplessness. There was nothing that we could do to rescue ourselves; we were helpless. It was at the cross that God stooped down to the chaos and scooped us up in His arms.

I love those stories that celebrate the impossible rescue: the swashbuckling hero, against all odds, shows up at the last minute to snatch a captive from the jaws of death. Of course, there’s one small problem: usually, those stories aren’t true. When the lights come up at the end of the film, we’re a little deflated because we know we’ve been enthralled by a work of fiction. But the gospel is no fairy tale. We’ve been saved. We will think about this a little more tomorrow, but in the meantime, let’s give thanks for our salvation!

Prayer: I was lost, and You found me; helpless, and Your love lifted me. I praise You, loving, mighty Saviour. Amen.

47

THU 17 AUG

DEATH SWALLOWED UP

READ Jonah 2:6 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

FOCUS ‘But you brought my life up from the very edge of the pit of death.’

Jonah 2:6

It was a cold day. I stood outside the funeral director’s front door, clutching the urn containing my father’s ashes. Reunion seemed unlikely, resurrection a faintly foolish idea. But in my grief, I was wrong. Follow me as we unearth a wonderful truth.

The ‘pit’ that Jonah described is also translated elsewhere as Sheol, the place of the dead. In Old Testament thinking, Sheol was viewed as being like a city with gates, an image that speaks of the power of death to imprison its captives. Isaiah speaks of death’s insatiable appetite, so Sheol ‘swallows’ its prey. But in Jonah’s experience, Sheol – drowning and death – was ‘swallowed’ up by another ‘swallower’ – the great fish!

Hosea looked towards the destruction of death and Sheol. Sure of God’s power to redeem His people even from death and Sheol, Hosea celebrates God’s promise: ‘I will set these people free from the power of the grave. I will save them from death. Death, where are your plagues? Grave, where is your power to destroy?’

(Hosea 13:14). Isaiah 25:8 says of God: ‘He will swallow up death forever. The Lord and King will wipe away the tears from everyone’s face.’

Then in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, ‘Death has been swallowed up. It has lost the battle. Death, where is the battle you thought you were winning? Death, where is your sting?’ (1 Cor. 15:54–55). Jesus, in His work on the cross, ‘swallowed up’ death, together with the sins of us all! The eternal reunion will be sweet.

Prayer: Your work is finished, Lord Jesus.

In and through You, death’s power has been stripped away, swallowed up by Your triumph. Amen.

48

FRI 18 AUG

REMEMBER

READ Jonah 2:7 Luke 22:7-20

FOCUS ‘When my life was nearly over, I remembered you, Lord.’

Jonah 2:7

Decades ago, Michael Griffiths wrote a pithy, prophetic book about the Church, called Cinderella with Amnesia. That’s what the Church is: a beautiful bride in the making, but one with frequent memory lapses. How often do we ask the same old hackneyed questions, and insist on treading tired, wellworn pathways of sin – always hearing, never learning, seemingly oblivious to the pain we cause Him? Temptation has a way of creating something like madness in us. We absolutely know what is right and wrong, and may even be acutely aware that we are making choices that are likely to lead to terrible consequences, but still we plough ahead.

Filled with remorse, we apologise to God, vowing never to tread that pathway again – until the next time. Like Jonah, for some it’s only when life is nearly gone that we wake up – although for him, his remembering didn’t last very long.

The history of Israel illustrates this pattern so painfully. Over and over again, despite miraculous sea-crossings and manna falling from heaven, hers was the repeated malady described in just two words: they forgot.

Stunning moments just slipped their minds.

Desperate that they remember, God gave them feasts and festivals, circumcision and ceremony. Still they forgot.

Nothing’s changed. That’s why one of Jesus’ parting gifts to His friends was a remembrance meal. So today, let’s think clearly, learn from our failures, and by grace, live beautifully.

Let’s remember.

Prayer: When sin beckons, help to me think clearly, recall what I know is true, and make choices that please You, loving Father. Amen.

49

WEEKEND 19 - 20 AUG

CHRISTLESS FAITH

READ Jonah 2:7 John 15:1-9

I’ve met some of the most incredible Christians in my travels; genuinely marvellous human beings, full of faith and kindness.

They remind me of Jesus because they have spent so much time rubbing shoulders with Him. I’ve also bumped into a few who profess to have been walking with Him for years, yet who are shrivelled, mean-spirited people.

How can they be as they are when they’ve been around beauty and love for so long?

Surely we can all drift into a vague, cold imitation faith where we follow the basic doctrines of Christianity, but have little day-to-day interaction with Jesus Himself.

Ironically, some of us busier Christians fall into this trap, becoming so busy for God that we have little or no time to be with God. Of course, our service is part of our spirituality, and actions in God’s name can be prayers in themselves, but it’s still possible to get lost in the blur of doing and saying all the right things, and never take a pause to specifically talk to God, or hear Him speak to us. We end up living Christless lives that may even be quite good, but still godless.

Jonah gradually reset his compass to Nineveh, and accepted his missionary call, but he began a slow return to the person of God Himself.

Repentance means running headlong into the arms of the Lord; more than moral realignment, it’s also about relational reengagement. We are called to be with Jesus, not just serve Jesus.

To ponder: What does it mean, practically, for us to ‘be with Jesus’?

50

MON 21 AUG

HUMILITY

READ Jonah 2:8-9a Matthew 18:21-35 FOCUS ‘Some people worship the worthless statues of their gods. They turn away from the grace you want to give them. But I will sacrifice... to you.’

Jonah 2:8-9a

GOING DEEPER

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Today, we are treated to the disturbing sight of a Jonah who barely takes two steps back to God, before he trips up and bursts into pious condemnation of those who are ‘idol worshippers’. How quickly the newly forgiven forget where they came from, and become harshly critical of others. Jonah announces he will now become a grateful worshipper once again. But the truth is that the ‘pagan’ sailors had already gone running towards the real God while Jonah had sat sulking in stubborn rebellion.

Pride can so quickly spoil our friendship with God. Driven by a profound desire that others see just what committed Christians we are, we subtly – and unsubtly – advertise our piety, pray long, grandiose prayers, dazzle with our breathtaking revelations, and generally become painful to be around.

And sometimes we who have been freely and outrageously pardoned withhold pardon from those who sin against us. Like the unmerciful servant in Jesus’ story, we suffer from spiritual insomnia, and forget that we have been shown great grace. In that parable, Jesus described a man who had been forgiven the equivalent of around eight million pounds, who then immediately throttled a debtor who owed him a measly sum – between four and twelve pounds.

We who have been forgiven quickly must learn to forgive quickly. ‘Put up with each other. Forgive the things you are holding against one another. Forgive, just as the Lord forgave you (Col. 3:13).

Prayer: Father, help me to forgive as I have been so wonderfully forgiven, or at least to start that journey. Amen.

51

TUE 22 AUG

JUST SORRY

READ Jonah 2:9b Romans 6:1-14

FOCUS ‘I will do what I have promised.’

Jonah 2:9

His words had the effect of a stun grenade.

‘I know that the affair that I’m in is wrong.

But I’m being honest about it, and God will forgive me. I need this relationship in my life right now.’ The man, a Christian for some years, had fallen into the trap of believing that grace is a licence to blatantly continue in sin, an idea utterly contrary to what the New Testament teaches. His ‘confession’ made him feel even more noble about his destructive and unfaithful choices.

Writing in the Daily Express, columnist Vanessa Feltz lamented our confession-crazy culture, where we seem addicted to shouting out our sins – but don’t feel any need to reform or change. Vanessa raged: ‘It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you admit it.

This makes it possible to commit the vilest iniquities, and, as long as you make a brazen and flamboyant confession, come out of the whole thing scot-free. Thus... a politician can admit to knowingly impregnating a married woman and still assume the moral high ground.’

She’s right. Public airing of dirty laundry, to the delight of the public, is no substitute for true repentance, and if anything, just gives the impression that sin is acceptable.

True repentance leads to genuine change; so Jonah made promises to obey God and take the trek to Nineveh. But today’s heady decisions don’t always lead to anything lasting and substantial. What would happen in Nineveh? What will happen tomorrow to the pledges that we make today?

Prayer: Father, when I fall, help me not just to admit that I’m wrong but to turn from wrongdoing. Amen.

52

WED 23 AUG

A SICK FISH

READ Jonah 2:9-10 Leviticus 18:24-30

FOCUS The Lord gave the fish a command.

And it spat Jonah up onto dry land.

Jonah 2:10

At first glance, Jonah being on dry land is a good ending to the episode – but there’s a twist in the way he was rescued... via vomit.

Because Jonah’s repentance was so flawed, some commentators believe that the big fish threw him up because it found him to be nauseating! The writer’s use of the word ‘vomit’ here is curious. The NRSV translation isn’t the best, because Jonah wasn’t spat out, but forcibly, viscerally ejected.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for vomit was connected with judgement. God called His people to be holy, and pledged they would be ‘vomited out from the land’ if they continued in rebellion. A similar threat is issued in Deuteronomy 28. In Jonah’s prayer/ speech, there is no mention of him dealing with the core of his problem, which was his outright defiance to God and rejection of God’s call.

High-sounding speeches and vows that lead nowhere and ignore the essential issues in our lives are sickening – to large fish, and more importantly, to God Himself. Jesus addressed the church in Laodicea with some very challenging words: ‘You aren’t hot or cold. So I am going to spit you out of my mouth’ (Rev. 3:16).

I’m challenged, and I hope you are too. Are there significant matters that we know that God is calling us to attend to, but we are covering our ears, and distracting ourselves by mouthing pious prayers and singing worship songs?

Prayer: Save me, Lord, from emotional moments that lead nowhere. Give me grace and courage to respond to what really matters to You. Amen.

53

THU 24 AUG

YOM KIPPUR

READ Jonah 2:1-10 1 John 1:5-10

As we take a last look at Jonah in chapter 2, why don’t we pause and ask the Holy Spirit to clear our hearts and minds from that clinging fog of deception, and show us where we need to seek forgiveness and truly repent? During the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur, as we saw earlier, the prayer of Jonah is used – but it’s interesting to note that our Jewish friends do this to celebrate the God who forgave the people of Nineveh; not Jonah’s ‘repentance’, perhaps further questioning its authenticity.

Join me in reading this through, reflect on the phrases used, and then offer the prayer again.

'We have grown accustomed to sin, and the fragments of Scripture lie shattered in our life.

Charity has withered with calculation, and the sparks of purity have burnt out.

FOCUS From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. Jonah 2:1

Yet still we come on Yom Kippur, and God who said, ‘I have forgiven’ whispers it again to us, and waits for our reply.

What shall it be? What form will it take?

Let us repair what can still be repaired.

Let us give back the gain we earned by injustice.

Let us make peace with our injured brother.

Let us restore the person we wronged.

Let us admit what is false in ourselves.

GOING DEEPER

Let us put right what is wrong in our family life.

lifewithlucas.co.uk/ goingdeeper

Let us not sour the joy of living.

May God give us the courage to do these things and help us to rebuild our lives.

And when we have finished our tasks, may He permit us to enjoy the light sown for the righteous so that He can delight in us.

The Gates of His Mercy are still open. Let us enter in. Amen.'

54

FRI 25 AUG

MISSION

READ Matthew 28:16-20 Jonah 3:1-10

FOCUS ‘So you must go and make disciples of all nations. Baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’

Matthew 28:19

During one bout of travel, I spent nine hours on a plane sitting next to a leading light in the World Solar Heating Movement.

She was excited, passionate even, about all things solar. I was given a magazine, a website address I could visit, and an invitation to attend one of their conferences.

I was impressed and challenged by her energy about energy. Her zeal put my quiet, ‘balanced’ Christianity to shame.

Over the next couple of weeks, as we consider the arrival in Nineveh of a prophet who smelt rather fishy, we’ll take another look at mission, and realise we are all called to be witnesses for Christ. I’m bracing myself already for a bumpy ride as we journey through Jonah 3 together.

I’ve often written about my early Christian years, when I was a loud, clumsy, aggressive evangelistic-type, much given to extended monologues with innocent and bewildered strangers. But as I’ll illustrate further later, I’m wondering whatever happened to evangelism, in my own life, and in the lives of others too? These days, especially in the UK, I don’t hear so many reports of people sharing Christ one on one. Perhaps we’ve lost confidence, or inclination, or both.

God loved the hapless rabble that was the citizens of Nineveh, and needed someone to tell them so. Nothing’s changed: God loves His world, and wants all to hear of His heart for them. Let’s take another look at mission, and be prepared to respond to the Holy Spirit as we do.

Prayer: Father, Scripture describes our world in just one word: lost. As I consider the challenge of mission, stir me afresh to boldly go. Amen.

55

WEEKEND 26 - 27 AUG

NOT PERFECT

READ Jonah 3:1 1 Corinthians 1:26-28

As we read, ’A message came to Jonah from the Lord a second time’ (Jonah 3:1), we celebrate that God is kinder than most of us can imagine – and we are in need of that kindness more than we think too! Part of that liberal kindness is His choosing to use flawed people who are still very much in the process of maturing. Jonah, whose ambition would have been to see the mass incineration of the Ninevites, was given another chance, as the word and call of God came once more.

I mentioned yesterday that, in my earlier years as a Christian, my approach to mission was zealous but that I was somewhat inept and insensitive in the way that I talked with people about my faith. Yet looking back, I’m grateful that God seemed to use even my faltering words to reach others. I was unskilled and occasionally obnoxious, but still people came to faith through my clumsy efforts – and there were many wonderful moments when I knew a conversation had genuinely helped someone on their own life journey. Mission is always about the mobilisation of profoundly ordinary, works-inprogress people like us, not of sleek, highly trained presenters. Biblical history is littered with those who shrank back from their calling just because they felt inadequate.

Henry Ward Beecher notes: ‘The church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the education of imperfect ones.’8 Feel inadequate for mission? Join the crowd.

To ponder: If there are times when you are reluctant to share your faith, what are the main reasons for your hesitation?

56

8

exploregod.com/articles/four-characteristics-of-a-good-church

MON 28 AUG

GO

READ Jonah 3:2 Matthew 28:18-20

FOCUS ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh...’

Jonah 3:2a

It is worth a return here to that key passage in Matthew 28 where Jesus commissioned His disciples to go and fish. Personally, I have tried real fishing, and I hate it. I offer profound respect to anyone who delights in sitting on a freezing, muddy bank for hours, going without basic sanitation and warmth so that you can hook a fish, admire it, (and perhaps photograph yourself holding it) and then return it to the water. But my few forays into fishing have taught me one simple truth – you have to go and get them. No angler spreads out a net on the bank side in the hope that the fish will obediently just hop in.

Sometimes, however, when we simply hope and pray people will show up on Sundays, we are doing exactly that, adopting a ‘come and hear’ approach to mission rather than the biblical ‘go and tell’ formula. Yes, going may involve changing jobs, enrolling or leaving college, moving out of our comfort zone to touch a life, mugging a neighbour with kindness, or crossing the street to help someone in need. It may simply mean that we invite someone to come to church with us.

Of course, all of this is costly. It demands we are willing, daily, to be interrupted. And we might not enjoy the experience – there’s no reason to believe that Jonah was any happier about the second call than he was about the first.

I’ve been in some prayer meetings when the cry went up: ‘Send the people in, Lord.’

Perhaps God’s reply is simple: ‘Go to where they are, My people.’

Prayer: Lord, I am willing to be interrupted for You today. Help me to be one who goes where You need me to go. Amen.

57

TUE 29 AUG

MISSION IS MESSY

READ Luke 7:36-50 Jonah 3:2

FOCUS She learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house. So she came there with a special jar of perfume.

Luke 7:37

GOING DEEPER

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Our church in Colorado faced a huge test the night that Nicki, a former stripper, was baptised.

A number of her nightclub friends, leather miniskirted, tattooed and with an abundance of piercings, sat in the front row. Not everyone was initially happy about our new visitors. Not only did they come to visit, but many of them stayed, deciding to follow Christ. They made quite a contrast to the regular, respectable looking churchgoers, but I’m so glad to report that they did receive a wonderful welcome. The church began to mushroom in growth as a result.

Mission calls us to reach out to people who are not like us – people we might not be drawn to or like at all, naturally speaking.

Mission is messy, and can threaten the unity of a local church, if it is a clan gathering of people of similar backgrounds which is suddenly and wonderfully invaded by people of a very different ilk.

Jonah’s brief cruise in the belly of the fish certainly didn’t prompt any love in him for the people of Nineveh. He loathed them – for very good reason, as I mentioned earlier. Inscriptions found on Assyrian monuments show how vile and cruel they could be, particularly following victory on the battlefield. Captured soldiers were horribly tortured before execution. The Assyrians were the Nazi stormtroopers of their day.

The example is extreme, but relevant: mission is a call to love the unlovely. And let’s remember, we are all rather unlovely, whatever our fashion choices.

Prayer: God give me love for those I find unlovely. In the ugliness of my sin, You have welcomed me. Fill me with more of Your love. Amen.

58

WED 30 AUG

MISSIO DEI

READ Romans 10:1-15 Jonah 3:2

FOCUS ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh.

Announce to its people the message I give you.’

Jonah 3:2

It was a noisy, exciting meeting. The pastoral team at our church was gathered for a planning meeting, interrogating the vital question: how can we more effectively reach our city? I love being part of that team, because it’s loaded with creative, imaginative leaders; ideas were flowing thick and fast. The whiteboard was filling up with suggestions. But then we made a vital decision: we would very intentionally offer our ideas to God in prayer, and then allow them to ‘simmer’ for a few weeks rather than dashing into action.

The Lord told Jonah, ‘Announce to its people the message I give you.’ The mission to reach the world is God’s mission, not ours.

Translated literally, Jonah was charged to head for Nineveh and ‘speak to it the speech which I will say to you.’ God was the initiator; Jonah was to be a willing responder.

Theologians over the centuries have called this ‘missio dei’, the mission and sending of God. One of them, Jurgen Moltmann, says, ‘It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfil in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church.’9 Not that we should be passive when it comes to mission. It’s a good idea to think and pray about how we might intentionally serve and reach our friends and neighbours. But as we remember that mission is God at work through us rather than us asking God to bless our good ideas, we offer ourselves in availability to Him today.

Prayer: Here I am, Lord. Today, guide me to divine appointments, where I can serve, love, and share Your heart of love. Amen.

9

Moltmann, J, The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology, (London: SCM Press, 1977), p64

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THU 31 AUG

SHOW AND TELL

READ Matthew 5:13-16 Jonah 3:3

FOCUS ‘Let your light shine in front of others.

Then they will see the good things you do. And they will praise your Father.’

Matthew 5:16

Our friends, Christian leaders from America, had spent the weekend speaking to leaders in the UK, and we were reviewing the event.

We asked them what they’d noticed about the people they’d met.

Both agreed without hesitation that they were stunned by how almost everyone they met was actively engaged in serving their communities. Most had realised that Christianity must be demonstrated as well as spoken (the flipside of our reflection yesterday) and so were engaged in working with the homeless, the care and counsel of victims of sexual abuse and rape, serving in drop-in centres for young people, or labouring in a host of other practical and creative projects.

Mission calls us to live the message as well as speak it. Even though he remained reluctant, it was an obedient Jonah who went to Nineveh.

He called the Assyrians to surrender to God as one who was living – for a while, anyway – in the place of surrender himself. The messenger was part of the message.

Years ago, I used to tell people who weren’t Christians, ‘Don’t look at the Church, look at Jesus.’ I now realise I was wrong. First off, Jesus is invisible, and not easy to look at.

Secondly, the Church has been created as a working model of kingdom life. God wants people to be able to look at us and see Jesus. Let’s thank God that it’s happening.

And if you are one of those tireless, often uncelebrated heroes, spending yourself for the cause of the kingdom, thank you.

Prayer: Lord, when people look at us, may they see something compelling that speaks of You. Amen.

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FRI 01 SEPT

SPEAKING TO POWER

READ 1 Samuel 17:1-54 Jonah 3:3

FOCUS ‘The Lord saved me from the paw of the lion. He saved me from the paw of the bear. And he’ll save me from... this Philistine.’

1 Samuel 17:37

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Occasionally I’m asked what has been the most challenging preaching assignment of my life. I have no doubts about my response. Invited to address the UK Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast, held annually in Westminster Hall, I felt totally out of my depth. The night before the event, I accompanied one of the Queen's Chaplains to St Margaret’s Chapel, and then addressed a small gathering in the elaborate home that is the Speaker’s House. Then came the event itself, held in the place where King Charles I was sentenced to death. Everything about the occasion spoke of raw power. As an Essex boy, I felt quite out of place among so many plummy accents. A question niggled at my nervous brain: how could anything be changed in this place, in this nation?

As Jonah heads to Nineveh, we’re told it was ‘a very important city’. In fact, it took about three days to see all of it (Jonah 3:3). Other translations call it great – remember how the writer of Jonah loves that word? We already know that it was not important or great because of its morality – on the contrary.

Nineveh was described like this because of the crushing power sway that it held in the world. But for all that, it would be changed by the visit of a fugitive prophet. As we saw earlier when we talked about the greatness of God, let’s remember that even the mightiest can fall – be it Goliath or Nineveh – when God is at work. What is our Nineveh/Goliath situation? Are we still asking God to topple it?

Prayer: When I find myself intimidated by the power of a seemingly impossible situation, help me to remember who You are, Mighty God. Amen.

WEEKEND 02 - 03 SEPT

GOOD NEWS

READ Jonah 3:4 Nahum 3:1-19

I’m intrigued, and a little intimidated (it seems I spend a lot of time feeling intimidated!) by those street preachers who stand on street corners yelling Bible texts at passersby.

Often they clutch huge placards that scream threatening messages about the wrath of God. There’s no doubting their bravery – but are they wise? Or have I just become a flabby liberal in my advancing years? Yet if the gospel is good news, surely few will be won by wide-eyed ranting.

There’s something curious about Jonah’s short sermon to the people of Nineveh: there’s absolutely no good news, not even an invitation to repent. He bluntly announced, ‘In 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed.’ The Hebrew word Jonah used is hapak. It can be used to mean totally destroyed, as it was to describe the total destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:25). Nor does the prophet refer to their wickedness, which could spur repentance. Jonah just echoes Nahum’s dark denunciation. It’s ‘Here comes the judge – you’re all doomed.’

Some commentators think that Jonah simply spoke only what he was told to say, or that what is recorded in the text is a summary of his message. But others wonder if Jonah just couldn’t bring himself to speak hope to those he hated. He knew that salvation came from the Lord, and had loudly proclaimed that to the innards of a fish. Perhaps he just couldn’t bring himself to say it to the nasty people of Nineveh.

To ponder: Are our lives and words good news to others – or a dirge that turns them off?

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MON 04 SEPT

HAPAK

READ Jonah 3:4 2 Timothy 2:14-19

FOCUS On the first day, Jonah started into the city.

He announced, ‘In 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed.’

Jonah 3:4

Yesterday we considered Jonah’s very brief message to the people of Nineveh. Today, let’s look closer still at the words that he used, because it’s just possible that he actually misunderstood his own message and prejudice warped his thinking. And it all comes down to that one word we pondered yesterday: hapak, usually meaning ‘total destruction’. But hapak can also mean ‘changed’. Mark Yarbrough suggests: ‘Hapak was used in Exodus 7:15 when Moses’ staff changed. It ‘changed’ into a snake. The water of the Nile changed to blood. In Hosea 11:8 hapak was used to describe change in the Lord’s heart. This seems to be incredible irony in our story because Jonah walked into Nineveh stating that God was going to hapak (destroy) the city. He told them of their impending doom, and he was excited about it. But Nineveh was not going to be destroyed. Ultimately what happened was that Nineveh was hapak (changed).’10 Yarbrough’s conclusion might be wrong, but at least it’s worth considering. Perhaps Jonah unwittingly correctly prophesied the stunning change that would break out in the hated city – but hatred blinded him to that possibility.

We touched on this before, but let’s allow this to serve as a warning to us. Let’s be very careful about our approach to Scripture, lest we use it to justify and support our own opinions. And pray for those who teach and preach, that we might ‘correctly handle the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).

Prayer: Father, may I approach Your Word with openness and care. Bless and enlighten those teach it to Your people. Amen.

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10

Yarbrough, Mark, Jonah, (Nashville, TN: Broadman &Holman Publishing Group. Kindle Edition) p108

TUE 05 SEPT

MIRACLES

READ Jonah 3:5 John 11:1-44

FOCUS The people of Nineveh believed God’s warning.

Jonah 3:5a

We were stunned. My brother-in-law, Chris, had demonstrated a complete lack of interest (and mild antagonism) to the Christian message. Our children, very young at the time, had talked with him about Jesus, with no effect. We continued to pray. The telephone call came like a stun grenade, as Chris, then a student at Cambridge University, told us that he had made a decision to become a Christian. I dashed upstairs to tell the incredible news to our children, who were pleased but not surprised. Our young daughter Kelly asked me an uncomfortable question. 'Why are you so shocked, Dad? We’ve been praying for him. Didn’t you expect something to happen?’

The news of the hardened people of Nineveh coming to God is nothing short of shocking.

The word used to describe their newfound faith, ‘believed’, is the very same term in the Hebrew that describes Father Abraham’s relationship with God. And the radical nature of their repentance is a shocker as well. The Assyrians were a most religious people: they shaped their national life according to their belief in the goddess of war, Ishtar. But now, as they fast and drape themselves in sackcloth as a sign of mourning, and throw themselves on the mercy of the real God, what we see is nothing short of a miracle.

It’s difficult to pray for some people – especially family members. Their turning would seem absolutely impossible. But the God who can even raise the dead is able.

Prayer: Lord, grant me hope and expectation to see the ‘unreachable’ reached. Help me to keep asking, and hoping. Amen.

65

WED 06 SEPT

FOR ALL

READ Jonah 3:5-6 Colossians 3:1-17

FOCUS ’All of them put on black clothes. That’s what everyone from the least important of them to the most important did.’

Jonah 3:5b

One of the fantastic joys of church is that people of totally different backgrounds can come together, united by their love for Jesus.

People who would never mix under any other circumstances suddenly find themselves side by side – a dynamic picture of kingdom life, as young and old, rich and poor, women and men, employees and business owners, and people of every ethnicity mingle together in the unique family created by the cross. When we insist that our churches are built around our narrow preferences in worship styles and other peripheral issues, we miss the point of the whole thing. In a fractured world, the church is designed to be a delightful jigsaw.

So it was in Nineveh. As there was such a massive response to Jonah’s prophetic warning, social barriers toppled, and suddenly a new sense of community was born. This was not owned or dictated by the rich and powerful – it was a grassroots movement that began on the streets, and eventually reached the royal palace. The king then shot the message to his nobles and back to the common people again, adding impetus and official sanction to what was already well under way.

The old proverb is sadly true: birds of a feather do certainly prefer to flock together – and perhaps some of us are bristling and frustrated because there are people in our local church who are nothing like us.

Let’s learn to delight in our differences, and certainly not fear or resent them.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for the family of the cross. Help me to draw close to those who are so different from me. Amen.

66

THU 07 SEPT

MISSION STRETCHES

READ Jonah 3:7-8 Acts 15:1-35

FOCUS ‘Don’t let any person or animal taste anything... Let people and animals alike be covered with black cloth.’

Jonah 3:7-8

We are blessed to have thousands of people in our church, which is marvellous. There are many who would love to see something similar happen in their locality. But when we pray for growth, we must face the harsh reality that growth is messy, disruptive, and hard work. When it comes to mission, the answer to our prayers rarely looks like we imagined.

One of the greatest miracles of the New Testament was the transition the infant church made in accepting that Gentiles could be saved; it demanded a major paradigm shift in their thinking (Acts 15:1-35). So we pray for a more effective youth group, and suddenly young people with serious issues with drug abuse and alcohol start showing interest. Now Christian parents become understandably concerned – what effect is this going to have on their somewhat sheltered children? Who will influence whom? When God moves, the people most surprised by what He does are usually the guardians of His last move; so the greatest opponents of Jesus were the religious experts.

A totally bizarre scene – which may have seemed like fanaticism – unfolds in Nineveh as even the animals are called to fast and wear sackcloth! Jonah would have reeled at the sight. How dare these Assyrians call upon the God of Israel! What passion they were showing – and what would the folks back home think? Let’s be aware of the implications of what we are praying for. The answer may bring some surprises and struggles.

Prayer: Lord, give me grace and understanding when my prayers are answered in ways that I don’t anticipate.

Amen.

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FRI 08 SEPT

GOD IS GOD

READ Jonah 3:9 Isaiah 45:1-25

FOCUS ‘Who knows?

God might take pity on us.’

Jonah 3:9

I am nervous of holding a ‘vending machine’ Christianity which teaches that Jesus only exists to fulfil our wildest dreams. Some teach that if we follow certain laws and principles, and have enough faith, then the expected blessing will result, always on time. Recently I heard a speaker telling a congregation to ‘tell God what to do.’ His whole message was based on Isaiah 45:11 (in the King James Version, it says ‘Concerning the works of my hands, command ye me’).

Look carefully at that passage; it is very clear that God is actually saying the opposite; that He is God, and will do what He will do. God invites our prayers and even suggestions, but in the end, He is God (Isa. 45:18). Christianity that is little more than a good deal to get us what we want is not Christianity.

Mission’s purpose is to invite everyone to come into a relationship with God – to place their hopes, dreams and ambitions at His feet and allow Him to take charge of their destiny. Once again, the so-called pagans excelled the prophet. Remember the ship’s captain, who said of God, ‘Maybe he’ll pay attention to what’s happening to us’ (Jonah 1:6) and his crew, who also threw themselves on God rather than demanding deliverance (Jonah 1:14). Now the king’s decree expresses a similar hope rather than a bombastic demand: ‘Who knows? God might take pity on us.’

Let’s pray with hope, and not pout when the answer does not come or is not what we wanted. God has a habit of being God. Prayer: Deliver me from believing I have got You neatly worked out, Lord. Be truly Lord of my life – and of this day.

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WEEKEND 09 - 10 SEPT

MOTIVES

Jonah’s crusty, couldn’t-care-less attitude towards the thousands of hapless sinners (now somewhat reformed) of Nineveh stands in stark contrast to the tender, gentle heart of God. Our journey so far through this book has shown Him to be both gracious and graceful.

Compassion (the Hebrew word used here means motherly love) triumphs over judgement. And all because of God’s great love – a theme that continues to the very last verse of this book (Jonah 4:11).

READ Jonah 3:10 Isaiah 40:1-11

As we conclude our look at the third chapter, we see that mission’s motive is care. Evangelism that merely seeks to fill our church buildings with more people is just heartless expansionism. But when we connect with God’s caring heart and begin to see the desperate needs of people who may, by outward appearance at least, seem strong, then our attempts to win people to God through lifestyle and proclamation will be authentic. People don’t want to be ‘scalps’ that we are collecting, or ‘souls’ that we are winning; and they don’t want to be our next project either. The late Floyd McClung (who wonderfully demonstrated his true heart for mission in the choices that he and his family made) famously said, ‘People don’t care how much we know. They want to know how much we care.’

Perhaps, like me, you occasionally suffer from compassion fatigue. So overwhelmed by the massive needs of the world, we can retreat. Let’s ask the tender-hearted God to give us hearts just like His own.

To ponder: Have the traumas of Covid, and harrowing images from Ukraine accelerated compassion fatigue in us?

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MON 11 SEPT

REALITY

READ Jonah 4:1-11 Psalm 44:1-26

FOCUS But Jonah was very upset. He became angry.

Jonah 4:1

Once again, we can be grateful that the Bible is a book of truth, rather than a collection of dreamy fairy tales about heroes who always get it right. Scripture chronicles the sin-smeared, messed-up lives of ordinary people, warts and all. Here we see Jonah at his most ugly and petulant, brimming with white-hot rage, not at the repentant people of Nineveh, but at the unexpectedly tender God who was forgiving them so freely.

And yet what relief this chapter brings. Here we see there are times when we will be unhappy and even enraged with God. Our spite is unfair and misdirected, but conflict with God is endemic to the human condition; Job, Moses and Jeremiah all had their runins with Him. Seconds before he died, Stalin is said to have shaken a clenched fist to the heavens – furious until the very end.

Perhaps that’s where some of us are right now. Yesterday’s prayers mock us, because it seems they have been coldly ignored today.

We seethe at the injustice and cruelty that plagues the earth; or maybe we just feel a simmering resentment towards God for no specific reason that we can pinpoint. There’s hope here for the angry. Let’s unclench those fists, open our hearts, and take a look, because when we are angry, not just at life, but with God Himself, we are not alone. And as we will see, anger does not cause God to reject us; on the contrary, the Lord engaged in conversation with His furious prophet.

Prayer: I know that I can bring all my feelings and emotions to You, Lord. Thank you. Amen.

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TUE 12 SEPT

ANGER’S INTENSITY

READ Jeremiah 20:7-18 Jonah 4:1

FOCUS ‘Lord, you tricked me, and I was tricked. You overpowered me and won.’

Jeremiah 20:7

Jonah preached one of the shortest (fellow preachers take note) and most successful sermons in the history of preaching, and an entire city was rocked to its foundations by his prophetic onslaught. You’d think he’d be happy. On the contrary, he was incensed.

The writer here is keen for us to know just how upset with God Jonah was. He was outraged, just like the prophet Jeremiah.

First of all, there’s a literary device used here called a figura etymologia. This is a double emphasis used frequently throughout the book of Jonah to show just how intense something was. So, the terrified sailors ‘feared a great fear’, Jonah was called to ‘proclaim the proclamation’ and now he was ‘angry with a great anger’. Take it from me.

He’s very upset.

Then there’s the use of the word ‘great’ again. As we have seen, it is a favourite word in this book: Nineveh was a great city, the fish was great – so was the storm, and furious Jonah’s anger was great too. It was also all-consuming, enough to make him ignore God and be tired of living. He even prayed for death twice (Jonah 4:3,9).

I’ve spelled all this out because some of us are so utterly consumed with rage against God, we are tempted to think there’s no way back. The fact that we’re reading these words is nothing short of a miracle, because, generally, we aren’t on speaking terms right now. Know that this white-knuckled man has just been an instrument to shake a city. Why don’t we start counting ourselves in again?

Prayer: Help me to run to You, and not from You, when frustration and even rage fuels my heart. Amen.

71

WED 13 SEPT

ANGER: HIJACKED LOVE

READ Matthew 21:12-17, Jonah 4:1

FOCUS Jesus entered the temple area.

He began chasing out all those who were buying and selling there.

Matthew 21:12

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Christians can be adept at arguing. I’ve seen too many churches systemically torn apart by division, often over the pettiest issues. I used to put this down to nothing more than selfishness and immaturity, then I noticed that some of the angriest protagonists were those most involved in the life of the church. Far from being indifferent, they raged because they cared very deeply.

As we’ve seen, that’s why Jonah was frustrated in Nineveh. Ancient rabbis taught that Jonah would have seen a response to God in Nineveh as an event that would shame stubborn Israel, and so Jonah preferred death to national shame.

Anger isn’t always wrong – God Himself gets angry (there are over eighty references to this in Scripture) because He cares. T.S. Eliot reminds us that God’s anger is ‘the unfamiliar name' for His love. So Hosea speaks of God’s compassion and fierce anger together (Hosea 11:8-9). Jesus was angered by the leathery, stubborn hearts of the Pharisees, and was more than a little upset when He kicked over the tables of the extortioners in the Temple.

Are we feeling incensed about what’s happening in our churches? Perhaps lines have been drawn, and harsh words are being lobbed back and forth. Let’s press the pause button: our genuine passion and concern may have nudged us into anger that has little to do with being righteous. And perhaps we’ve started to view the church as ‘our church’, when we need to be reminded that the Church belongs to Him alone.

Prayer: Father, may I never become the victim of unhealthy intensity. Help me to care about what matters to You. Amen.

72

THU 14 SEPT

LAMENT

There was an old hymn that included a line that troubled me: ‘Now I am happy all the day’.

The problem? I wasn’t. And although there are some bright souls who apparently grin their way unceasingly through even the darkest valleys, I don’t really believe that anyone is permanently thrilled. That’s why the songs we sing in worship need to be diverse, and not always focused on victory and joy. The heroes of the Bible were certainly not happy all the day; two of the most frequent prayers in the Psalms are ‘Why?’ and ‘How long?’

Perhaps we need to learn to sing songs of lament (although I’m not sure how that works – the worship leader inviting the congregation to stand and sing ‘Let’s all be fed up together’ seems unlikely...)

READ Jonah 4:2 Psalm 38:1-22

FOCUS ‘He prayed to the Lord.’

Jonah 4:2

More seriously, lament is about grief, and we can and must be honest with God in prayer about our grieving. When I’m sad or angry, my prayers can deteriorate into little more than hollow speeches. I tell God what I think He wants me to say. When this happens, I sense a yawn in heaven: the Lord is unimpressed by dishonest verbosity (Matt. 6:7).

For all his weakness, Jonah did tell God what was really in his heart, even if it was ugly.

He brought his frustration into his prayer experience. If we’re struggling, depressed, enraged, or disappointed, again, let’s tell God. He knows anyway, but calls us to the intimacy of being able to express our pain.

Honesty before God can be a first step to understanding.

Prayer: On darker days, teach me to trust You. When You seem distant, help me pursue You. Always, help me to be truthful.

Amen.

73

FRI 15 SEPT

ANGER AND GRACE

READ Jonah 4:2-3 Psalm 86:1-17

FOCUS I knew that you are gracious. You are tender and kind.

You are slow to get angry. You are full of love. You are a God who takes pity on people.

Jonah 4:2

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It’s ironic that one of the most beautiful descriptions of God found anywhere in the Bible tumbled from the lips of an indignant, enraged man like Jonah. The prophet finally admits why he ran from God in the first place – he was afraid that God would be true to His gracious form and forgive the despised Ninevites.

God is described here as ‘tender and kind' – (a common pairing in the Old Testament, see Exodus 34:6, Psalm 86:15). The word ‘kind’ comes from the word ‘womb’ and speaks of a motherly love. And, in stark contrast to the fuming former fish-dweller, God is ‘slow to anger’. God is ‘full of love’ – a reference to His steady faithfulness; He ‘takes pity on people’. The late Gerald Coates affirmed that God does bring judgement, but that it is His ‘strange work’.

But Jonah is so mad with rage that he can’t stand God. So why should anyone complain about such beauty and grace? The answer is simple. We want God to be gracious and forgiving to us – but not to paedophiles, serial killers, former Nazi concentration camp guards – or anyone at all that we consider to be our enemy, or to have committed what we see as unforgivable sins. We want God to fix the evil in the world – but the idea that He might rush to discipline us when we step out of line is less palatable. Jonah was glad God has been gracious to him, shown by the arrival of an ordained fish – but not that Nineveh might receive the same kindness.

God is good – scandalously so.

Prayer: Thank You for Your grace to me. Help me celebrate when You are gracious to others – especially those that I don’t like.

Amen.

WEEKEND 16 - 17 SEPT

MISUSING SCRIPTURE – AGAIN!

As we discovered when we listened in to Jonah’s prayer from inside the fish, the man knew Scripture. In that example, he repeatedly quoted from the Psalms. Now, as he furiously attacks God for being gracious, he quotes Exodus 34 – but he does so in a way that weaponises Scripture, in a shocking assault on the character of God Himself. Tim Keller observes, ‘Jonah reads the Bible selectively, ignoring the latter part of Exodus 34:7 that speaks of God not leaving ‘the guilty unpunished’.

He creates a simplistic picture of a God who simply loves everyone without judgement on evil. He uses the sacred text to justify his inordinate indignation, anger, and bitterness.’ 11 Once again, Jonah misuses Scripture.

Scholars also notice that, in Jonah’s short prayer, the word 'I’ or ‘my’ occurs no fewer than nine times in the original language. He is consumed with his own opinion about what God should do, he is overwhelmed with crushing disappointment, and as we’ll see tomorrow, he is literally losing the will to live.

READ Jonah 4:2-3 Exodus 34:1-7

Let’s be careful of a ‘cut and paste’ approach to Scripture, especially when we use it to support our own opinions. Keller writes: 'Whenever we read the Bible in order to say, "Aha! I’m right!”; whenever we read it to feel righteous and wise in our own eyes, we are using the Bible to make ourselves into fools or worse, since the Bible says that the mark of evil fools is to be “wise in their own eyes” (cf. Proverbs 26:12).' 11 To ponder: Are there parts of the Bible that you have a tendency to ignore or avoid?

11

Keller, T, Rediscovering Jonah, (London: Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition) p105

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MON 18 SEPT

KILL ME, LORD

READ Jonah 4:3 1 Kings 19:1-18

FOCUS ‘Lord, take away my life. I’d rather die than live.’

Jonah 4:3

Talk about ingratitude! A Yahweh-controlled fish saved Jonah’s life – and now his repeated prayer is for death. And the reason for his suicidal tendency was the nature of God. Jonah just could not face serving someone who would do the kind of things that God was doing. Oblivion was more inviting.

This is stubbornness to the extreme – but it also shows that, in a way, Jonah has learned very little. He still wants to run away – but this time, he looks to flee, not to a distant country, but to the grave itself.

Unresolved anger has a disabling effect in our life, strangling hope, tripping us up. And it causes us to forget even the most vivid lessons. We might think that Jonah’s trip through storms and fish guts would have provided him with a lasting and memorable education. But now he’s back to square one.

He’s heard the call of God twice, but despite hearing, he doesn’t understand.

Perhaps we have also been knocked down by anger for too long. We have watched, even enviously, as others have gone further in God than we have. Sometimes we have almost resented brand new Christians with their bright, hopeful faith. Maybe we have wished that life itself would end, because it’s all too much.

Let’s think again. Let’s not keep running from God, but come to Him with our protests. If you feel that you’re at the end, I beg you: please reach out for help. Let’s learn from our past, and take the first step towards a better tomorrow.

Prayer: When hope is gone, help me to want to live, learn, and grow, Lord. Take me forward. Enable me to choose life and love again. Amen.

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TUE 19 SEPT

ANGER AND PROCESS

READ Jonah 4:4 Colossians 3:1-17

FOCUS But the Lord replied, ‘Do you have any right to be angry?’

Jonah 4:4

The speaker was tiptoeing through a most sensitive subject – that of rape and sexual abuse. His words were full of insight, until the end, when he invited victims of abuse to ‘Come forward for prayer, and get rid of your anger today, here, right now.’

Is God able to do an instant miracle, setting someone free in a moment from the justifiable rage that usually follows terrible abuse? Certainly, He can. But generally, recovery will come through an extended journey rather than an instant crisis episode.

Elizabeth O’Connor pointed out: ‘Despite a hundred sermons on forgiveness, we do not forgive easily, nor do we find ourselves easily forgiven. Forgiveness is always harder than the sermons make it out to be.’ 12 As Jonah insisted that he is in the right to be outraged, perhaps he was goading God, looking for a lightning bolt to cremate him for what looks like blasphemous rebellion. No fire falls, but instead a whispered question comes to Jonah’s turbulent heart. All that follows in the next few verses is God’s attempt to gently lead Jonah out of the cul-de-sac of his anger.

Let’s celebrate the wonder that God is so very patient with us all. With tender questioning, the Lord was inviting Jonah to explore the source of his rage.

And let’s be careful not to insist that the bruises of the abused clear up too quickly, lest we do them further damage. The journey towards forgiving may take some time, but it will lead to an authentic act rather than a premature prayer.

Prayer: When I need to forgive, help me to navigate that difficult journey, loving Father.

Amen.

12

Quoted in https://sermons.faithlife.com/sermons/93017-4-fireproofing-relationships-forgiveness

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WED 20 SEPT

STOMPING OUT

READ Jonah 4:5 Matthew 8:1-34

FOCUS Jonah left the city.

Jonah 4:5

A minister friend reports the church that he leads has opened a fantastic new resource to serve the community, and build an amazing bridge to the unchurched. Locals in the area have welcomed the new project with open arms. There has been some hostile opposition, however – from some of the folk in the church. They have not been this way before – and they don’t like it.

When God moves, as we have already seen, not everyone will be delighted. Matthew’s gospel gives us a remarkable example of this. There was a phase in Jesus’ ministry when He performed miracles all over Galilee.

Crowds were mushrooming, amazing physical healings were breaking out – and one whole town asked Jesus to leave the area. Perhaps their hostility was born of ignorance: opposition to God being at work is even more surprising when it comes from those who profess to love Him. In perhaps a flashback to the period between Jonah’s preaching and the response of the Ninevites, we see him stomping out of the place where God is at work. But stubborn Jonah still wants to wait for the hoped-for judgement to fall.

Anger drove him away from God’s chosen location for blessing.

Sometimes, we react when new things happen in our churches. Our frustration might be sparked because change makes us nervous; sometimes leaders haven’t taken time to explain or answer perfectly reasonable questions. But let’s be careful not to allow our discomfort to drive us away from what God is doing.

Prayer: Lord, stir and disturb me if that’s what I need. Amen.

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THU 21 SEPT

HAPPY AND SELFISH

READ Jonah 4:6-7 Philippians 2:1-11

FOCUS Jonah was very happy he had the vine.

Jonah 4:6

I wandered into the church meeting, the guest speaker on assignment. Not spotting anyone I knew, I took a seat in the back row to wait – and was quickly hissed at. ‘That’s where I’ve sat for years – it’s my seat. Please move.’ I fled to another empty seat. I had upset someone by moving into their territory.

Earlier we saw that anger may be reasonable. We may find ourselves on an unfamiliar journey – or simply not have enough information to understand. But we have to face the fact that sometimes we get angry because we are being coaxed out of our well-established comfort zones, and we don’t like the feeling that this creates. This scene in Jonah demonstrates the almost legendary capacity we human beings have for selfishness.

At first glance it seems that God is messing about with Jonah. First sunshade is provided, and Jonah is delighted. Then another creature under divine commission (this time a worm) shows up and munches its way through the vine that only yesterday had been the gift of God. Jonah’s joy disappears with the plant.

But there’s no game-playing here; rather school is in session. There’s a double meaning in the text, because with the shade, God relieves Jonah’s ‘trouble’, which is exactly what He did for the whole city of Nineveh.

However, while Jonah was delighted for God to do that for him on a small scale, he was irate that something similar should happen for others, especially pagans. Let’s not try to make petty anger noble.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, deliver me from selfishness. Help me to live as a true servant. Amen.

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FRI 22 SEPT

JUDGEMENT

READ Jonah 4:7-8 John 3:1-21

FOCUS When the sun rose, God sent a burning east wind.

The sun beat down on Jonah’s head.

It made him very weak.

Jonah 4:8

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We have seen repeatedly that Jonah fled from his calling because he had no desire to see wicked people forgiven. He longed for God to send the holocaust of judgement to Nineveh, not good news of grace. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes I’d like to call for something similar. When we hear of the terrible crimes of sexual predators who abduct and abuse children, we perhaps wish these evil stalkers could be vapourised by a well-aimed lightning bolt. Yesterday I spent some moments talking with a Christian couple whose beautiful daughter was murdered just three years ago. Their tears still flow quickly. Couldn’t God have neutralised her killer before he had the chance to take her life so cruelly? She lost everything – and perhaps her parents will never know what it is to fully smile again.

But let’s consider the idea of a world where every act of evil, every lustful thought, every error was immediately, instantly punished.

Chaos would reign; lightning would be everywhere and humanity would be reduced to being puppets in a bizarre game, with God jerking all our strings. The wind in Jonah’s face was a taste of the hurricane of judgement that he was hoping would blow upon the people of Nineveh. It felt like a blast furnace, utterly exhausting him.

If we speak of judgement, let’s do so with tears, compassion, and the offer of grace.

And let’s never forget – we didn’t get what we deserved. Thank God for grace!

Prayer: Lord, give me strength to live in a world of injustice and pain. If I speak of judgement, may I do so because of love.

Amen.

WEEKEND 23 - 24 SEPT

Christians can be adept at standing up for what is right, and being committed to their principles. We respect Martin Luther, who hammered his theological theses to the door of Wittenberg cathedral and later cried, ‘Here I stand: I can do no other.’ His courageous act sent reverberations around the world. We’d like to emulate his insistence on standing up for the truth.

SO WRONG

But sometimes our unwillingness to compromise gets hijacked and we end up being inflexible about things that don’t matter. We rage about the translation of the Bible that others use, the worship songs they sing, or where they place the piano. We even feel authentically Christian in our refusal to change. Some people would rather die than back down.

Jonah prayed for death – all because his shady plant died. His prayer is shocking, because he was willing to gamble everything, including his relationship with God and life itself, if he didn’t get his own way. Rather than concede that Jesus was Messiah, the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus and put him back in his tomb!

READ Jonah 4:8 John 12:1-11

Perhaps some of us have a reputation for our rigid commitment to our principles. Let’s be careful that we don’t confuse smallmindedness with courage, and mix our preferences up with God’s plans. Let’s listen to the opinions of others, and not be quick to dismiss what they say because they see things differently. God may be trying to teach us something through those grating and dissenting voices.

To ponder: From your experience of church life, can you think of an example where much ado was made about nothing?

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MON 25 SEPT

WE ARE NOT GOD

READ Jonah 4:9 Job 13:1-15

FOCUS But God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have any right to be angry about what happened to the vine?’

Jonah 4:9

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There is a statement I have used in public on a number of occasions, and when I do so, I usually get that ‘Stone the blasphemer’ look from some believers. I will repeat it here, and brace myself for the complaints: ‘Our application to join the Trinity has been turned down.’ We’re not God, and we never will be.

There are no vacancies in the Godhead. The sooner we figure this out, the easier life will be. God is our Father, and certainly not our servant. He is the majestic God who retains fully the right to do what He will.

The Lord graciously confronted Jonah with this revelation, as He repeated His question, ‘Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?’ Effectively, God quizzes His furious servant with the question that most of us need to hear from heaven at some time: ‘Who do you think you are?’ Jonah is spectacularly deceived, as he insists he has every right to be irate enough to die.

Jesus is Lord. That means that, like Job, we can submit when we don’t want to, trust when we don’t understand, and be faithful when our culture, minds, hormones, or hearts want something different. When we have questions, God may be gracious with some explanations – as He was with Jonah in these final verses – but when heaven is quiet, and answers are elusive, we can still bow the knee. We laid down our rights at the cross when we gave our lives to Christ – we handed everything about us over to Him. Let’s not try to pick those rights up again.

Prayer: Lord, I am Your servant. The title deeds of my life are Yours. Do with me what You will. Amen.

TUE 26 SEPT

PERSPECTIVE

READ Jonah 4:10-11 Psalm 31:1-24

FOCUS ‘Nineveh has more than 120,000 people.’

Jonah 4:11

GOING DEEPER

lifewithlucas.co.uk/ goingdeeper

Living in Colorado is a joy (three hundred days of sunshine: sorry, but someone has to live there), but the winters can be severe.

Just last week we had twelve inches of snow in one night. The fog that comes down is so thick that if you’re driving, you just have to pull over and stop. For a while, the towering mountains disappear into the gloom and you see nothing but darkness.

Yesterday I alerted us to the important reality that we are not gods, and so it’s okay that we don’t see everything about life and the universe with sharp clarity. Jonah could only see the shapes of powerful, evil warriors in Nineveh. But God saw 120,000 stumbling, confused and weak human beings who were very much in need of help. From God’s perfect vantage point, things look very different.

Perhaps some of us are tortured because we don’t understand fully. Paul makes it clear that ‘Now we see only a dim likeness of things. It is as if we were seeing them in a foggy mirror. But someday we will see clearly.

We will see face to face’ (1 Cor. 13:12). It’s okay to say that we don’t know. Often we say that unanswered prayer creates questions, but I find that answered prayer does too. Why did God say yes to that request for healing, while others still suffer? There are some things that we won’t understand until we see Jesus face to face, and in that wonderful encounter, the fog will clear forever, and all tears will be wiped away. Until then, we trust Him. Prayer: I trust in you, Lord. I say, You are my God. My whole life is in your hands. Amen (from Psalm 31:14-15) 83

WED 27 SEPT

LOST

READ Jonah 4:11 Ephesians 4:19

FOCUS ‘They can’t tell right from wrong.’

Jonah 4:11

It’s a familiar rallying cry from atheist Richard Dawkins. The suggestion is that to believe in and follow Jesus is an act of intellectual suicide, a ridiculous pursuit by totally deluded people. Dawkins makes his disdain clear in his book, The God Delusion, where he scoffs at the truth of God’s rescuing work at the cross. ’I have described the atonement... as vicious, sadomasochistic and repellent’, Dawkins haughtily declares. ‘We should also dismiss it as barking mad, but for its ubiquitous familiarity which has dulled our objectivity.’ 13 We Christians can feel intimidated by such comments. More than insulting, they are demeaning, and can sap our confidence. But let’s remember God’s verdict on the ‘wisdom’ of the world. The Lord looked upon the power and sophistication of the great city of Nineveh and issued His verdict. God was not excusing the people of Assyria – they were still responsible for their sin – but His verdict explains their behaviour. They were lost. And so are we all, until we allow Christ to find and enlighten us.

Paul elaborates on the lost condition of humanity: ‘They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts’ (Eph. 4:18, NIV).

We might be saddened by the mockery that comes from some quarters, but we should not be surprised. And we should heed the call to us all to grow deeper in the wisdom of God. Prayer: Lord, help me to not only be confident in my faith, but humbly courageous too: a lost world still needs You so desperately.

Amen.

84 13 Dawkins, R, The God Delusion, (Boston, Mass: HarperCollins, 2008)

THU 28 SEPT

THE TEARFUL GOD

READ Jonah 4:11 Matthew 23:35-38

FOCUS ‘So shouldn’t I show concern for that great city...?’

Jonah 4:11

I think that the Hebrew word shown in English as ‘concern’ is a victim of inadequate translation. The word means literally ‘to have tears in one’s eyes’. We are left with the image of the Lord being moved to tears of compassion as He looks on the ignorance of Nineveh, the lostness of its people, and their utter helplessness. This is not a picture of an unemotional, unmoved God, but as we saw at the beginning of our journey through this story, He is the passionate One. And that portrait comes into even greater focus as we think of Jesus, who also looked at a city, with eyes of compassion and sadness because of their rejection of Messiah. ‘I have wanted to be like a hen who gathers her chicks under her wings’ (Matt. 23:37).

He wanted to offer shelter and protection for the chicks (the Jews, and in a wider sense, humanity), but then the chicks acted like chicks usually act – they darted around, oblivious to the immediate dangers, spurning the offer of protection, because they’d rather have fun in the farmyard. What might have happened if the Jews had turned, en masse, in response to Jesus’ kingdom message?

History might have gone in another direction, and the terrible fall of Jerusalem in AD70 might have been avoided. But they missed their opportunity, because they were not willing.

When God looks at Nineveh, and Jerusalem, and at us, He does so tenderly, and sometimes tearfully. Let’s always stay close to that beautiful heart of His. Prayer: You care for me so much, Lord Jesus. Help me cast my cares upon You (1 Pet. 5:7). Amen.

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FRI 29 SEPT

CONCERNS

READ Matthew 13:1-23 Jonah 4:10-11

FOCUS Others received the seed that fell among the thorns. They are those who hear the message. But then... worries... crowd it out.

Matthew 13:22

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As we begin to draw our time with Jonah to a close, there’s a play on words in the text that I don’t want us to miss. Twice the word ‘concern’ is used – a word that includes tearful pity, as we saw yesterday. But God uses the word twice in His dialogue with the still-sulking prophet. Jonah was ‘happy’ about the vine/ sunshade (the only time in the entire story that he is happy!) And he was ‘concerned’ about that plant, whereas God was ‘concerned’ about an entire city. The unpalatable truth is this: Jonah had drifted to a place where all that mattered was his own comfort, and when his shade was destroyed, anger exploded yet again. Notice the absurdity of Jonah’s tantrum: he was angry enough to die.

I’m tempted to just shake my head, incredulous at his egocentric immaturity. But then I’m challenged, because we too can be overly ‘concerned’ about the wrong things too, including ‘false promises of wealth’, as Jesus pointed out. Or, like Jonah, we can simply drift into self-centredness. Paul, who poured out his life to reach others, wrote, ‘None of you should look out just for your own good. You should also look out for the good of others’ (Phil. 2:4). And to the Corinthians, he wrote, ’We should not look out for our own interests. Instead, we should look out for the interests of others’ (1 Cor. 10:24).

Asked to send a message to a gathering of the Salvation Army, founder General William Booth sent a one word telegram: ‘Others.’

Enough said.

Prayer: Father, when I am tempted to become obsessed with my own life, help me to remember Your call to echo Your love for others. Amen.

WEEKEND 30 SEPT

FINISHING WELL

READ Jonah 4:1-11 2 Timothy 4:1-18

GOING DEEPER

lifewithlucas.co.uk/ goingdeeper

We like God to give us answers – but sometimes He nudges us towards the truth by asking us poignant questions.

Jesus wanted to ease His disciples towards understanding, and so asked them, ‘Who do you say I am?’ (Matt. 16:15).

When the Lord was looking for a prophetic spokesperson, He hinted at Isaiah with a question: ‘Who shall I send?’ (Isa. 6:8). Isaiah got the hint – much faster than Jonah.

When it was time to stop Saul’s bloodletting campaign against the Christians, and begin his transformation into Paul the apostle, it all started with a question: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you opposing me?’ (Acts 9:4).

Now, the book of Jonah ends with God putting a penetrating question that we have been considering, put with patience to His stillpouting prophet: ‘Shouldn’t I show concern?’

Jonah’s reply is not recorded. Perhaps he ignored the question – he’d done that before (Jonah 4:4) when he walked out of revival town, and when he first ignored God’s original call. So, did Jonah ever humble himself and give in, ending the wrestling match with God for good? When we met him, he was a runner; it was not an auspicious beginning. So what of his ending? Would he fight tooth and nail to his last breath? The question was intended to prompt Jonah towards a good finish.

Perhaps Jonah’s answer, if there was one, is not recorded because the author wants us to turn the story around and make a response ourselves. Will we seek to be faithful, whatever the cost? Will we end well?

Prayer: May I run the race to win and finish my life well. With Your grace, it can be so.

Amen.

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NEXT TIME: A TIME TO RESET We’ve all been through such a challenging few years, not least because of the apocalyptic event that has been Covid-19. So now, how do we reset ourselves for a better future? And in making decisions about the days that lie ahead, how can we discern God’s will and purposes?

JOIN JEFF NEXT TIME AS WE GO ON A RESETTING JOURNEY TOGETHER!

The story of Jonah - it’s surely one of the best known episodes in the Bible - and the most misunderstood! The ‘star of the show’ is usually the big fish! But contained in this short book we find vital teaching on obedience, grace, anger, prejudice, repentance, and faith. And the real ‘star’ is God Himself, our mighty God who is more powerful than we can imagine, and who shows such amazing grace when dealing with flawed human beings like us.

Our hearts will be encouraged, and our faith will surely grow as we consider this powerful story!

Life with Lucas is written by Jeff Lucas, an international author, speaker, broadcaster and coach. Married to Kay, his passion is to equip the Church with biblical, practical Bible teaching, marked by vulnerability and humour. Jeff is a best-selling author of 34 books, and broadcasts weekly on Premier Christian Radio. He is a teaching pastor at Timberline Church, Fort Collins, Colorado.

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JeffLucasUK

lifewithlucas.co.uk PO Box 3070, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 6WX, UK Tel 01903 732190