Reaching Bottom
While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to You Jonah 2:7
Fainting Away – Every child loves the story of Jonah. It has action, mystery and a great big fish! But most adults gloss over the story, believing that it only teaches the lesson of disobedience to a command from the Lord. Since we don’t pay attention to each and every word, we shortchange ourselves. Jonah is hardly a story about a sea creature. It is a story about bigotry, arrogance, self-sufficiency, confrontation and death. If we only realized how much Jonah is just like us, we might be more inclined to listen to him. We would learn something very valuable.
Jonah flees from the demand of God. Why he flees has a lot to do with his prejudice and arrogance. His motive is basically disgust and hatred for outsiders. He would just as soon see them fry. Unfortunately, he knows that God is merciful. He doesn’t want Nineveh to experience repentance for fear that God will let them off the hook of judgment. He wants to watch the holocaust. So, he determines not to take the message of impending doom. He’d rather gloat about it afterward.
His escape is interrupted by God’s hand. As he is sinking in the ocean, he remembers the Lord. Do you think that he has forgotten God? Hardly! The whole point of his journey was to get away from his constant reminders of God. Now, as the water overwhelms him, he discovers something about himself. He does not want to die.
If Jonah joined a Twelve Step group, he would tell us that this was his “bottom” (in more ways than one). The Hebrew word is atsaph. It does mean “faint” and “feeble”, but it also means “ebbing away.” Jonah is drowning. His life flashes before him. He teeters on the edge of the grave. It looks like the end.
Jonah is me – and you. This is my story – and yours. All too often we have to reach that “bottom” of the ocean, the place where we are out of air, cold and alone before we remember that God is merciful. All too often we have to be thrown overboard before we come to our senses – just as our last gasp of self-sufficiency is snatched away. We did all we could to push God from our thoughts, but when the waters covered us, we remembered. Why do you suppose we so often have to journey to the depths before we remember the gracious God? Let me suggest this: God implants a powerful recollection of Himself in every one of His creatures. When all of our rebellious resistance is ripped away – when death stares us in the face – God’s automatic recall program leaps forward. It is the last hope of rescue. It’s God’s fail-safe option.
If you know that place at the bottom, remember: God loves life. You too can rise from the waters – without the help of a fish.
