Vince Deagler

hi once again.  since last week i mentioned the whole jonah and the whale thing, i will not dwell on it now other than to make a few quick points and move on.  first to dismiss this account as a myth undermines the integrity of scripture and nullifies our faith in anything scriptural.  to see it as an allegory has the same chilling effect in that we can then label anything we find controversial, an allegory.  on top of that christ compared his time in the grave to jonah’s whale experience.  we do not want to open the door to speculation that christ really didn’t die, be buried, and rise again, do we???  no, i see this as factual history.  and although there are historical accounts of people being swallowed by large sea creatures and surviving, i do not even want to look into it.  those kind of accounts simply try to naturalize what is clearly supernatural.  no, we are forced to accept a supernatural god, whale and all…or to dismiss him.  i accept him as is.

what i meant by do you believe in the title is…do you believe god chases us.  and if he does, how does he do this?  and why?  i believe this story clearly shows that god does chase us.  and he is relentless in that pursuit.  no matter where jonah intended to go, god knew right where he was, and was in hot pursuit.  he kicked up a storm (it was sudden, unexpected, severe in that experienced sailors would not have sailed into an oncoming storm), he made sure when the lot was cast it fell on jonah, after trying everything the sailors finally threw jonah overboard as he told them to do, and immediately the sea was calm, and finally god had a giant sea creature waiting to swallow him (save his life).  i do not see this as a coincidence, i see this as god chasing jonah.  but not as a stalker to be feared, but as one who knows what is best for us and desperately wants us to experience life to its full.

when you read chapter 2 you realize this is exactly how jonah saw it.  he saw his actions as self-destructive.  he saw god as a gracious, compassionate, savior.  i think sometimes we miss this.  we want god to let us go, to let us escape.  we want him to let our plans and pursuits work out.  we insist he bless them, and when he does not, we often become angry with him.  take a memo, we exist for god, not he for us.  and that does not make him controling or abusive.  always remember he first gave himself for us.  only after that sacrifice, that love does he offer us life b/c it is the basis of that life.  and he does not impose it on us, he respects our free will.  but he is relentless in his pursuit.  he knows what is best and wants us to experience it to its very full.  so when we try to run, he chases.

i hope you have experienced that in a way, and in a way i hope you have not.  i would just as soon you walk with god so he would not have to chase you.  but if you try to run, i hope you experience exactly what jonah did.  and i hope you discover with him how gracious god was to chase you, and catch you.  i have often said the school of hard knocks…and its sister school…the whale’s belly teach great lessons.  but the tuition is very high.  so here’s to a walk with god free from storms and whales.  thanks for reading.  blessings.  vince