It must be hard to be the most faithless person in your own story.

This past week in church, we talked about the Book of Jonah.  While there are plenty of angles and perspectives on the story, one of the things we touched on is how the Prophet Jonah demonstrates again and again that he really is the least faithful character in the story...in his own story.  Sometimes he’s running, other times he’s hiding, but most of the time, he’s either avoiding the one thing God has called him to do or complaining about how God is simply too good, too kind, and too loving.

It is not the most flattering portrayal.

To make matters worse, unlike Jonah, almost every other character – both human and non-human – is shown in a positive light, choosing obedience over disobedience when the option is presented.

The winds obey.  The waves obey.  The sailors obey.  The huge ‘fish’ obeys.  The King of Nineveh obeys.  The people of Nineveh obey.  The animals of Nineveh obey.  The vine obeys.  Even the worm obeys.  You get the picture.

In a book named after the prophet himself, Jonah is outclassed and out-faithed repeatedly.  It’s an uncomfortably honest depiction of the prophet, echoing even as it anticipates the discovery of Jesus that the faith of a Roman Centurion ran far deeper than that of anyone Jesus had yet met in Israel. (see Matthew 8:5-13)

But there is one moment where the faith of Jonah shines – it’s the moment when Jonah takes responsibility for the storm that is ravaging the boat in which he’s running from God.  He could have kept quiet.  He could have denied culpability.  He’s running and hiding from the Lord; there’s nothing keeping him from doing the same with these sailors.  And yet, as the wind and the waves threatened to break up the ship, Jonah takes full responsibility for their predicament and is even willing to be thrown into the waters to bring an end to the chaos he’d brought upon them. 

In a story where Jonah gets so many things wrong, his willingness to own his part amidst this chaos is honorable.  However, what I find most fascinating is how God uses both Jonah’s disobedience and obedience to demonstrate who He is to the crew of the ship. 

You see, the disobedience of Jonah introduced the sailors to the power of God.  The wind and the waves obey the Lord, Jonah’s God.  The Lord’s power is a power they’ve never experienced before.  Let’s be clear, the disobedience of Jonah isn’t good, but it is good for people to experience the power of God.  I wouldn’t say this experience leads them to salvation, but it does begin to give them a picture of who this God is, and right away, it is clear that they’ve never encountered anyone like this. 

The Lord is in a class all His own and God demonstrated this to them through Jonah’s disobedience.

However, as good as it is for us to see God’s power, God is more than just power.  While it is indeed good for people to experience the power of God, God wants to reveal more of Himself than just that – and that is where the obedience of Jonah becomes so important. 

Yes, God revealed His power in response to Jonah’s disobedience, but God revealed His mercy through Jonah’s obedience – through his willingness to confess his sin and take responsibility for how his actions had helped create their circumstances. 

The power of God taught the sailors to fear the Lord, but it was the mercy of God that led that sailors to worship the Lord (Jonah 1:16).  After all, it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. (Romans 2:3-4)

I share this today as a word of encouragement and hope.  All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)  All of us, like Jonah, have lives marked and marred by highs and lows, failures and successes, obedience and disobedience, faith and faithlessness.  My guess is that if we had books of the Bible named after us which chronicled our response to the call of God in our lives, they’d read a whole lot like Jonah’s (minus the fish).  They’d be stories filled with questionable motives, distorted theology, and plenty of hesitations. 

But the good news in all this is that while we might be more like Jonah than we care to admit, the God we read about in the story of Jonah is just as good, just as faithful, and just as true today. 

And this God can use it all – our highs and lows, failures and successes, faith and faithlessness – to help people come to know who He is. 

Don’t let your mistakes, sin, blunders, shortcomings, and failures take you out of the game.  Take responsibility for them.  Own your part.  Accept them for what they are and trust that God is powerful enough to use even those things to help people experience His mercy and kindness for themselves. 

And who knows?  Maybe, you’ll experience Him there, too.