Jonah provides us with one of the most heartfelt AND one of the most provocative prayers in the Bible. The most heartfelt prayer comes in Jonah 2. We spoke of that during the Daily Feed on April 19, ‘The Soul Dump: Prayer in Times of Crisis” so I am not going to repeat all that material. To summarize, Jonah was on the brink of death, a slow and painful death, and cried out to the Lord.
Jonah 4 opens with a very provocative prayer. To paraphrase, Jonah is praying, “You want to know why I ran away from you Lord? You want to know why, when you said East, I went West? You are sending me to tell the Ninevites to change their evil ways or face your destruction. But you are not going to destroy them. You are loving. You are merciful. Better you killed me with the fish than make me open that option to them.”
For his own reasons, Jonah did not want to give Nineveh the chance to repent. He did not want them to know the message of redemption from God. And he surely did not want to be the one sent by God to preach that message. See how far the Lord went, with storm and fish, to bend this stubborn prophet to God’s will.
This was not the way I was ever taught to pray. Heavens, I am told that all feelings are valid, that consequences are for how we act on those feelings. But hating somebody so much that I do not feel they deserve God’s mercy? I would be hard pressed to sit in our sanctuary and be okay with such feelings. Much less offer them up to God, not in confession, but in defiance.
Maybe it would sound like, “Lord, you want me to reach out to these people? In this neighborhood? Holy Lord, NO! They deserve the punishment that You can inflict upon them!!”
You know what, I have heard the expression of such feelings from Christians. Like about New York City after Superstorm Sandy. Maybe even more about New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. They DESERVE their punishment! (It is a whole other discussion to equate a hurricane with God's wrath). Are there people in New York and New Orleans and in my own neighborhood who deserve God’s punishment? Yes indeed. But there are a WHOLE lot more who need God’s mercy and compassion.
See-love and mercy-that’s how, it seems to me, I am supposed to feel.
But Jonah gives me permission for something very, very important. As chapter 4 begins, “But this (God’s mercy shown to Nineveh) was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord…” There is it. He prayed to the Lord. His feelings were his feelings. They were valid. That means they were not to be stomped on, made fun of, or ignored. That they should be expressed, experienced, and evaluated, which is something else entirely.
There are biological responses to the process of swallowing our feelings. One is called the ulcer. There are psychological responses to suppressing our feelings. One is called depression. There are spiritual responses to “happy-ing” over our feelings. One is the denial of the full healing power of our Lord Jesus. Another is failing to trust the loving mercy of our Lord. There do not tend to be the diagnostic categories of physical and mental health in our spiritual lives.
What then is the purpose of a prayer such as this? The provocative, slap-in-the-face to the mercy of the Lord that Jonah was expressing? Well, our feelings are valid insofar as we experience them. Does not deny their sinfulness. Does not deny that sin can start at our very motivations. It does then trigger the grace of our Lord Jesus to mercy and forgiveness, to the transformation of who we are to be more like Christ. It starts with prayer.
Peace,
Pastor Peter
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