Dear Jonah

After our Bible Study lesson this morning, I realize just how much I can be like Jonah.  Looking at the history of the people God called him to witness to (the town of Ninevah) we learned that these were a violent people.  We're talking cutting off the enemy's heads and making statues out of them to intimidate anyone else who might be considering attacking them.  I've always thought "Gosh, Jonah, why didn't you just do what God told you to do and you wouldn't have been swallowed up by a big fish?!"  Knowing what I know now about the people God called him to witness to, I don't know that I would've been the first passenger aboard a ship to Ninevah either.  I'm not making excuses for him being disobedient to God, but give Jonah a break.

But the truly saddening story comes when all the men aboard the ship bound for Tarshish begin praying to their gods.  Notice the little g. :)  The wind is blowing fiercely, the waves are crashing ferociously against the ship, they're all praying to dead or make-believe gods, and the only one who knows any God that can help is Jonah.  BTW, he's sleeping below deck.  It was pointed out to us how often we as Christians don't take advantage of that relationship we have with the Lord.  We have people in our world who are praying to anyone and everyone, living or dead, in desperate need of an answer, and we barely tap into the lifeline we have with our Heavenly Father.  My prayer this week is simple really: that I would not become so consumed with stuff and things and even other people that my prayer life suffers.