Jonah

What is your daily routine like?

For me, I have a number of habits. Three days a week I try to get to the gym by 5:00 am, come home, have a little breakfast, get the girls up and ready, then shower, shave, and head off to work. Pretty much the same thing, the same routine, every day.

Do you have a similar routine?

And isn’t it curious that we call this routine “life?” Sure, there is something reassuring about life as routine. We enjoy our rituals, habits, and the continuity – knowing what is coming and what to expect. And sometimes the routine is the only thing that keeps us going, the sameness of it all.

But you know, there is other life out there. Life just beyond the horizon. Life we may not know much about, but we might be curious what it is like. Life that is moving, that is becoming. Life that has change in it.

Yes, we may be creatures of habit, but sometimes, just sometimes, there comes a word, an invitation. Yes, we hear our name called out, we come forward, and our world begins to change.

I was thinking about this and how it related to the story of Jonah today. You see, the last thing Jonah wanted to do was to go and preach at Ninevah. These were his enemies, and he had no desire to be anywhere near them.

Yet, God very clearly said “Go.” Well, Jonah fought against God on this. He fought so hard that wound up in belly of a big fish. After three days, he finally relented to God’s calling and off he went. He does what God wants, preaches to his enemies, and probably hopes that they won’t change. All he says is “Forty days more and Ninevah will be overthrown.” That’s it, no illustrations, no poems, just those few words.

And then something amazing happens. The response of the people to the world’s shortest and worst sermon is the greatest in Scripture. The people repented, turned around, changed their ways. Yes, everyone, including the king, repents.

I knew this would happen, pouts Jonah. I knew you were a God who was merciful and forgiving, a God who loves to change the world, even our enemies.

And that is what God does, changes the world, and does so in amazing ways.

How has God changed your world?