Christina Suplee

“[You] Remind me of Jonah. You’ve been resting under the leafy plant-a little mad, confused perhaps.”

There are spiritual giants all throughout the Bible…David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Mary, Rahab. The list goes on and on, but one person you would NOT put on that list is Jonah.

Jonah did very little right. God told him to go to Ninevah, and he ran away. He did admit what he did (only after they cast lots and it fell to Jonah) and sacrificed himself for the sake of the other people on the boat (good job, Jonah). Then God saved him from drowning by sending a fish. In the fish he prayed and repented.

He went to Ninevah, preached his 5 Hebrew worded sermon, and the whole town repented. The king issued a decree, and God relented his anger and the disaster.

BUT IT DISPLEASED JONAH EXCEEDINGLY AND HE WAS ANGRY.

We learn that the reason that Jonah ran away wasn’t that he didn’t want to go to Ninevah, it was that he knew that God would be “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relented from disaster.”

Jonah even asked for God to kill him, because he didn’t want to see Ninevah receive mercy after he had preached they would be destroyed.

And so Jonah sits to the side and watches what happens to this city. God gives him a plant, and then kills the plant and brings a heavy sun.

The story ends with a very unfulfilling ending where God talks about how many people and cattle are in Ninevah.

Have you ever felt like Jonah? Have you ever run away when God told you to do something? I’ve definitely been there before, but right now I feel like I’m the Jonah at the end of the story-sitting under a plant, mad.

And I can’t take credit for that. I was telling my mentor about how I was feeling, and she sent me the text I quoted at the beginning. And I knew right away she was right. I’m so Jonah. And that’s not typically someone from the Bible you try and be like. There are a lot of other better examples.

And yet, I’m finding I have a new appreciation for Jonah. Saying yes to God is hard, and it comes with a lot of emotions. Just because you do it, and you follow what he has for you, doesn’t mean you don’t need a minute to sit under the leafy plant, a little (or a lot) mad.

Saying yes to God telling us to put Maverick into public school was kinda the easy part. Did I run away at first, yes. I did my own little version of running to Tarshish. But pretty quickly I came around and said yes. I went to Ninevah and enrolled him in public school. (Now quick note here: I’m not saying that public school is the enemy, I know that the Ninevites were the enemies of Jonah. I don’t view public school as my enemy; just different than what I wanted).

But now, like Jonah I can relate to this: IT DISPLEASED JONAH EXCEEDINGLY AND HE WAS ANGRY.

When the God of the universe tells you something, you’re a fool to not say yes. I’ve been a fool before, and I know I will be again. Jonah was a fool when he fled. I was a fool for not saying yes right away. But eventually like Jonah, I repent, say my prayer, (get spit out of the fish), and follow God. (God, please help me to just say yes right away).

But then….you have to live with the reality of saying yes. Jonah was obedient and went to Ninevah, but it didn’t mean that he was excited about his enemies being saved. He needed time to process and feel his emotions and his disappointment.

And God was there, continuing to teach him, but what I notice is that God was there. Whether he was making the leafy plant, or making it die, or sending the sun, or vouching for Ninevah, God was with Jonah through it all.

And we don’t know how the story of Jonah ends. Did Jonah get up from the hill and go home? Did Jonah stay on the hill and die? Did Jonah continue to sit there and think and process? We don’t know.

And that bugs me. I like to know the ending of a story, and yet again, this week I can relate to this unended, open story. I don’t know how Maverick’s year is going to go. I know that he is LOVING kindergarten, and that does make all of this easier for me to process, but it’s still hard. Dying your dreams is hard.

I still have to die daily to my dream of homeschooling him. I have to die to sending him to be inside a classroom for 8 hours a day. I have to die to having him home and spending a lot of time with him throughout the day. I have to die to getting to pick what he’s learning and when. I have to die to the fact that he’s going to learn things at school that I think he’s too young to learn. Dying to your dreams is hard.

And not knowing what will happen next is hard. Jonah wanted to sit and see what happened next to Ninevah. I too have to sit and see what happens next. I don’t know what next year brings. I don’t know what God is going to do. I don’t know if he’ll be in public school forever, or if it’s just this year. I don’t know.

But I do know that God is nudging me, telling me, it’s time to get up from sitting under the leafy plant. Your story doesn’t end here like Jonah’s did. It’s time for you to get up. And keep walking with me.

So, whether you’re running from God, praying to God, following God, or sitting on a hill mad and confused about what God has for you, know that you’re not alone. Jonah’s been there, I’ve been there/am there.

And most importantly, God is with and has always been with you, every step of the way.