Day 222 – Jonah and the Lightning Storm

I got stuck in Austin, Texas today because the plane we were on got grounded due to a lightning storm. So now I am sitting in the only hotel I could find with vacancy, writing my blog for the day. The last few days, I have had more than one setback. These seem to be coming at me one after another, and no matter how hard I try, I find myself being delayed, disappointed, and discouraged.

Sitting here in this hotel room, listening to the rain pelting the window, I started to feel like maybe God was trying to tell me something. I started to think of the biblical story of Jonah. Most people recognize this as the story where Jonah would not go and preach to an enemy city, disobeyed God, and, as a consequence, was punished by God until he did what he was told. In my opinion, the greater lesson is something highly relevant in our day to day lives, which is that Jonah cared more about his own comfort and preferences than he cared about the lives of people God wanted to save.

As it turns out, it is easy to claim that you are a great person, that you will do the right thing, and that you will care for others when things are going great. When all is right with the world, you can portray this altruistic and magnanimous persona. But when things are tough, when the decisions have consequences for you personally, then the true test comes.

I would venture that many people behave exactly like Jonah did. It is easy to shake our heads at Jonah’s unwillingness to follow the will of God in the context of a fanciful tale from thousands of years ago. But when we look at our own lives, at the decision we must make right now that could have negative consequences for us, that is when we learn what it really means to be like Jonah.

Jonah’s real test was not whether he could obey God when life was peaceful. His real test came when obedience threatened his comfort, safety, identity, resentment, and sense of justice. At the beginning, Jonah was not simply running from a difficult assignment. He was running from the kind of obedience that would cost him something.

When things are going well, it is easy to say, “I believe in mercy. I believe in forgiveness. I believe in doing the right thing.” But when the people who need mercy are the people who hurt us, threaten us, irritate us, compete with us, or inconvenience us, our true character gets exposed.

Looking back at my life, I can remember some of these distinct moments. Did I always pick the noble path? No. I regret those decisions. However, I have learned. You are better off accepting the consequences of the right decision than being like Jonah and delaying the inevitable. As it turns out, God always gets His way, one way or another, so you might as well do the right thing at the start.