Vince Deagler

if you read the last blog, you know we raised the question whether it is ever acceptable to be angry with god.  i did this because in jonah 4, jonah was quite angry with god, and god confronted him.  now, suppose we had the chance to ask jonah…what’s the problem?  what do you think he would say?  as i understand this story, it is clear to me, he would reply:  the problem is those evil ninevites, and that gracious god.  having raised 3 children, and now having 4 grandchildren with 1 on the way, i find that answer remarkably similar to the answers many parents have heard countless times.  for instance, if i walked into a family dispute when my kids were young and asked, vinnie…why did you do that (use your imagination here).  invariably i would hear about something his sisters had done to initiate this sequence of events, and would justify anything he had said or done.  he did not have a problem, he had done nothing wrong, his sisters had the problem…he was innocent.  as i see it, this is where jonah was, and it presents what i believe is perhaps the biggest problem i deal with on a regular basis.  let me explain.

jonah, my son, myself, most others, maybe you, was guilty of being an externalist.  an externalist is someone who identifies their problem as being outside of themselves.  immediately that means:

1.  they do not have a problem, the other party has the problem, etc.

2.  they cannot solve this problem because it is not theirs to solve.

now i am not trying to say there are never problems outside of ourselves, of course there are.  we live in a broken world, surrounded by imperfect people.  but i am trying to say they are not my problems because i cannot do anything about those things.  i define “my problems” as something i can do something about.  i cannot control or change someone else.  but, i can control myself…what i say, what i do, how i respond and react to any given circumstance.  as i control myself and how i am reacting i am giving god room to work and giving others the opportunity to change based on how i am reacting to them.  for some this is a hard concept to grasp.  but stay with me.  Jonah’s problem wasn’t the wickedness of the ninevites or the graciousness of god.  it was his hate filled, ego maniacal, hardened hard.  his problem wasn’t outside of himself…it was within himself.  internalism.  an internalist always identifies their problems as being within.  let me explain.

think about the story of the wise and foolish man at the conclusion of matthew 7.  both men built a house, both men encountered a storm.  it is reasonable to assume they were similar houses and storms (there is no room to say the wise man built a steel reinforced bunker and the foolish man built a cardboard shack.  nor is there room to say the foolish man experienced a hurricane and the wise man experienced a light summer breeze.)  in the story the foolish man saw his house collapse when the storm hit, but the wise man’s house stood firm.  now lets ask the question, why did the foolish man’s house collapse?  it would be easy to say…because of the storm.  but is that true?  if it is, why didn’t the wise man’s house also fall?  you see the answer is not because of the storm, if that were true both houses would have fallen.  no, the answer lies in the different foundations that the houses were built on.  the wise man built on a rock…he took the teachings of christ and built his life on it.  the foolish man built on sand, he heard the teaching of christ, but chose to ignore it.  the storm was not the problem, the foundation or heart issues was the problem.

lets apply that to jonah.  as an externalist there was no hope for him.  but suppose he decided to address his problem as an internalist?  he would immediately see how out of step he was with god.  he could then take the appropriate steps to reconnect with and realign with god.  once there, he would see the ninevites in a whole new way, the way god does.  he would not be found pouting, wishing to die, because his life was so horrible.  no, i think he would be found celebrating the graciousness of god that spared the repentent city of ninevah.  that’s why i asked at the start today, where is the problem?  sure, there are problems outside of me…but they aren’t mine.  my problems are always inside of me.  let me close by suggesting a simple way to resolve them.  i call it a heart exam.

h.e.a.r.t.  h stands for what’s happening, we always have stuff to deal with don’t we?  e stands for my efforts, what i’m saying, doing, how i am responding to what’s happening.  i will skip a for the moment because it is the key.  r stand for my reasoning.  if we are not careful, we can justify, rationalize the most egregious things.  my efforts are justified here…but that is not always healthy.  t stands for treason or trust.  As a christian i am to always be under god’s control.  when i am not, no matter how reasonable it may seem to be to me, i am in a treasonous position…as was jonah.  when i look within i should see a heart that is so trusting of god, that i am willing to do what he wants me to do.  this takes me back to the “a” in our heart exam.  a stands for aim.  as i said i can justify all kinds of wrong attitudes, hurtful words, sinful behaviors.  but before i do anything, i should take aim.  i should ask, what god wants to see occur in this setting, what outcome does he desire for these circumstances?  then i should say and do the things that give him the best chance to bring about that outcome.  if jonah had done this, the whole story of jonah would be different.  in fact we don’t even know what happened to jonah, the story closes without our being able to see whether he ever came around or not.  but i don’t know if that is anywhere near as important as what we will do with this lesson.

i am hoping you will reject the tendency to be an externalist.  there is a strong pull within all of us to live there.  resist it, reject it.  become an internalist, because when you do, two important things happen:

1.  you will be able to correctly identify your problems…the ones you need to address.

2.  you will be able to start resolving them in a way that unleashes god to bring about his desired outcomes.

isn’t that what we christians want?  live for?  thanks for reading, give me some feedback, blessings.  vince