An ADD Faith
Scripture Reading: Jonah Chapter Two
Jonah and Hosea are my two favorite Minor Prophets to read. My apologies to Obadiah and Nahum, but it is what it is. The meta story of Jonah sometimes overshadows the prayer of Jonah which makes up a quarter of the book. I have linked it above if you are reading this on your phone or computer and want to take a moment and read it before proceeding with this devotional.
Here are a couple of highlights:
Then I said, “I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.” (Verse 4)
What I find astonishing in this verse is Jonah’s faith. He knows he was cast into the sea of God’s wrath because of his disobedience, but he has confidence in his ultimate salvation. He is driven away from God, but, by faith, he knows he is never abandoned by the Lord.
I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. (Verse 6).
When Jonah was cast into the sea and swallowed by a fish, he entered the land of Sheol, the place of death. I hold to the view that Jonah actually died, that he wasn’t alive in the belly of the fish, but died and was resurrected by the Lord. It is not that I don’t believe that God could have kept him alive in the fish for three days, He could have. It is that it seems to fit better with Jonah’s prayer and the typological aspect of the event.
The idea that Jonah died and was raised again seems to be what is implied in this verse. The land of death was like an eternal prison and an excruciating pit, but God “Brought up [Jonah’s] life from the pit.” This is the hope of every believer. Death might seem to have gotten the best of us when they lay our old bodies in the grave, but the Lord will bring us up from the pit.
After reading Jonah’s prayer, one might be excused for thinking that Johan would never sin again like he sinned in chapter one. If the book ended after chapter two, we would assume that Jonah went on a lecture tour explaining the error of his ways, giving his testimony of repentance, and telling everyone that he had been walking the straight path ever since God saved him.
Instead, eleven verses later, in chapter four verse one, we find that Jonah is displeased with God! That didn’t take long. Rather than be too harsh about Jonah’s mediocre spiritual revival, we should do some self-examination.
I once knew a young lady who had made some seriously bad relationship choices that ended up creating havoc in her life. After she had freed herself from a bad situation, she told me, “I will never again do anything without seeking God’s will first. I’m not even going to buy a can of beans without asking God for permission.”
At the time, I thought it was commendable and an expression of a true commitment to the Lord. And I still think it was. But what she and I both failed to account for was the Jonah in all of us.
We are told in the New Testament to “Be filled with the Spirit.” That is meant to be a continuous experience, not a one-time event. Why? Because as I heard someone say once, “We leak.”
Jonah leaked. What he prayed in chapter two wasn’t a lie. It was all true. He didn’t lack sincerity. He lacked divine empowerment. To use an overused medical diagnosis in a spiritual context, Jonah had spiritual ADD.
Be filled with the Spirit today because what you had yesterday isn’t sufficient for the present moment.
