Heavier Than A Sunday School Story

We all know it...the Jonah and the Whale story. It's in every Sunday School curriculum, there are cartoons, songs, probably even some craft kits. I wonder if I polled a bunch of 3rd or 4th graders in Sunday School what they would be able to tell me about the story? In it's simplest form, Jonah ran from God, God had him tossed overboard and he was swallowed by a whale, Jonah prayed, the whale puked him up. Done.

During my quiet time this week one of the passages to study was "Jonah's Prayer" in the second chapter of the book. I'm sure I've read it countless times but it jumped out anew of me.

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
    and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
    and You listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths,
    into the very heart of the seas,
    and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
    swept over me.
 The engulfing waters threatened me,

    the deep surrounded me;
    seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
    the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
    brought my life up from the pit.

 “When my life was ebbing away,
    I remembered you, Lord,

Those who regard worthless idols
Forsake their own Mercy".

 

The "seaweed was wrapped around my head" gave me pause...at first because it was kinda funny sounding and ridiculous as an image in my mind...but then I read the above passage again...and again and again. I realized that Jonah's prayer affirmed my belief that God does indeed give us more than we can handle. Imagine it--Jonah is thrown into a stormy ocean, maybe at night in the dark. "Currents swirling" all around him, waves crashing over him. Nothing to stand on, grad hold of, or cling to. And then to top it all off, seaweed was wrapped around his head!? Probably making it hard to see and breathe.  So he cried out to God in his distress..."From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help"...Too much to handle? Um, yes!? He thought he was going to die and was likely on the verge of it.

 

Suddenly a whoosh and he's in pitch darkness in the belly of a whale...How this is possible I have no clue but I believe it. "He answered me...You listened to my cry"..."You...brought my life up from the pit..." And this was while he was still in the whale! Who knows what he was thinking??? But at least he thought to thank God, to praise God, to recognize Him for assisting in what he could not handle.

 

I love the last part of this too--"Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy". What do we turn to in times of need? Meds? Therapy? Friends? Self-help books? Family? All have their place and worth--yes--but in the end, God wants us to depend on HIM first, on HIM alone, and perhaps direct us to or use those other means in helping us. We forsake our own mercy when we turn to those worthless "things"first--anything we put in place of God--for help or sustenance or comfort. Powerful message...and a lot heavier than anything taught in Sunday School!