Dear Husband and his family are in a great storm. My father-in-law is dying, and it’s hard to watch. The winds of distress and confusion are blowing hard over Dad. It reminds me of the story of Jonah. Not because Dad was disobedient like Jonah! But because we all face the storms of life. The little book of the Bible that tells us Jonah’s story also tells us a lot about how God helps us in storms.
“The Lord sent (hurled) a great wind on the sea.” Jonah 1:4
Did you know that the Hebrew word translated in English Bibles as ‘sent’ is actually the word ‘hurled’? What a word picture! God hurled a great wind at Jonah’s ship. Dad is feeling the great winds blast him. His body is shutting down. He doesn’t seem to understand what’s happening. He’s distressed. Have you ever been hit with a sudden, distressing problem and you didn’t understand all that was happening?
“. . .such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.” Jonah 1:4
That great wind caused a great storm. Did you ever have a problem that just seemed to grow? Soon your family members or co-workers were affected. You couldn’t do what you normally did. Things started falling apart. As the storms keep raging, we need to know that God is working his perfect plan.
“Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard. . . Now the Lord provided (appointed) a huge (great) fish to swallow Jonah.” Jonah 1:15,17
God had hurled a great wind, but he also appointed a great rescuer! During these sad days of watching Dad decline, we also have been sent a rescuer- Hospice. We would drown if it weren’t for our caring, skilled Hospice nurses who relieve Dad’s pain and walk with us through this valley of the shadow of death.
“From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said:
“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.” Jonah 2:1-2
How wonderful that in our distress, the Lord listens and answers! He is never far. He is waiting for our humble request for help.
Jonah is coughed up on dry land and finally heads for the great city of Nineveh to preach God’s message of doom. So Jonah has experienced a great wind, a great storm, and a great fish. Now he’s headed for a great city.
“The Ninevites believed God . . . When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” Jonah 3:5,10
Jonah himself had just faced certain death and was rescued. Yet when the city turned to God, and was rescued from destruction, Jonah was angry. We want grace when we mess up, but we’re quick to criticize our fellow humans when they mess up. When an aide brings a pill at 2:00 am instead of 2:00 p.m. and wakes up my mother-in-law who can’t get back to sleep, our first response is anger. But when I absentmindedly gave away my sister-in-law’s toiletries that she entrusted to me for her next visit at our house, I greatly desired and received grace!
“But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.” [That God had spared them] Jonah 4:1
We have our own ideas about justice and about how the world should work. When things don’t work out as we think they should, we’re mad. We accuse God of doing it wrong. Why does Dad have to linger? Why can’t he just go to sleep now and wake up in Heaven?
“Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.” Jonah 4:5
We may cause our own suffering. Jonah didn’t have to be outside the city in the hot sun. He was miserable because he made himself miserable. Huh, I couldn’t relate. (Not)
“Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. “Jonah 4:6
Now God appointed a second rescuer. This time it wasn’t a great fish; it was a plant that gave him some relief from the hot sun. Oftentimes God’s kindness sends us a good meal, or a good night’s sleep- things that help our bodies cope when we’re stressed.
“But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered.” Jonah 4:7
God provided a shady plant, but he also provided a worm to destroy it. God may bless us with comfort one day, but the next day, God may allow us to grow hungry and tired. He isn’t a genie in a bottle, catering to our every need. He gives and he takes away as Job said. But none of it is senseless or cruel. Every one of our experiences is meant to help us know God better.
“When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” “Jonah 4:8
God provided a scorching wind?! God adds to our troubles? Dad slept well, but in the early morning he was choking on phlegm that felt like it was strangling him. He said yesterday that he just wanted to go to his new home. When God appoints a scorching wind to exhaust us, he will meet us in our depression and show us his great mercy (pity, compassion).
“But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” Jonah 4:9
Our physical discomfort distorts our thinking. When we’re in pain, we want to give up. We can’t see beyond our present pain. Our pain causes us to focus more on physical realities and blinds us to the bigger, deeper realities. But God wants to use our pain to help us understand spiritual realities.
“But the Lord said, ‘you have been concerned about (pitied) this plant . . . And should I not have concern for (pity) the great city of Nineveh?” Jonah 4:10-11
Jonah was concerned for the plant because it impacted his own well-being. God was concerned for the well-being of all people. Scripture commands us to love others as we love ourselves. We should be as concerned for the well-being of others as much as we’re concerned for our own well-being. Even when we’re disappointed, mad, and miserable. Especially when.
