Several times throughout the year, I find myself serving in the toddler nursery of our church. I enjoy watching the children play, color, read, and sing. Toward the end of the church service, we instruct the children to begin cleaning up the toys. However, while our pastor is typically punctual, there is just no guarantee of when the service will end.
Once the toys are put away, it is like herding cats while trying to keep the room clean as the children “patiently” await their parents. As all can probably agree, five minutes in “toddler-time” might as well be five hours in “adult-time.” One thing that I like to do is to sit the children down beside the wall to sing songs or to tell them Bible stories.
When sharing stories with toddlers, it is imperative to tell ones that will grab their attention and to recount these stories in an expressive, bombastic manner that engages their curiosities and minds. One of my favorite Bible stories to share with these little ones is the story of Jonah.
Imagine, if you will, a row of tiny humans with hands folded neatly in their laps and giant eyes absorbing the story of Jonah as told by a crazy woman.
“He ran from God!” (SHOCK! GASP!)
“The rains came in the boat! The wind was tossing the boat around like a ball! (Arms flailing about; making whooshing noises to simulate the rain.) But where was Jonah?”
Tiny eyes glue to the storyteller as if to say, “Where? Tell us?”
“ASLEEP! (Makes loud snoring sounds) He was asleep!”
“The sailors threw Jonah off the ship, and a giant whale gobbled him up!” (Raises her arms to circle them around one of the children and gulps loudly, as though her arms are the lips of a magnificent sea mammal.)
We have all heard the story of Jonah. It is a wonderful but cautionary tale of the consequences of disobedience. However, as I was reading Jonah the other morning, something stuck out to me that I previously had not noticed.
In Jonah 1:10, it reads, Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
The men sailing the ship knew Jonah was running from God because Jonah himself had told them. It made me think of the people I have met who have said, “Oh, yeah. I used to be a Christian but…,” or “I used to go to church but…” These men already believed that an angered deity of some kind caused the storm because they had cast lots to find the culprit. When they found it was Jonah, he identified himself as a Hebrew and continued to simultaneously acknowledge and reject God.
Throughout the first chapter of Jonah, an apathetic spirit plagued Jonah. Running from God, he happened upon a ship and paid to board. In the midst of the storm, he was asleep in the ship. When the sailors were stricken with panic and fear, he responded to them in Jonah 1:12 saying, …Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
I love the ocean and the beach. I am terrified of most sea creatures. I cannot say that I would respond with, “Yeah, guys. I know it’s my fault. Sorry for the trouble. Just throw me overboard, and I’ll swim to shore. That way, y’all don’t have to lose your boat.”
No! My thoughts would have been more along the lines of, “Um…we can make it. I’m sure everything will be ok. I mean, having the water ONLY on the outside of the boat is overrated. Besides, we’re safer in the boat than out of it, right?” Regardless, I would not have been volunteering to leave the ship. However, in his callused heart and with his apathetic attitude, Jonah offered to be thrown overboard.
What really stood out to me was the next verse. Jonah 1:13 says, Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. I thought, “I’m sorry…they what? What do you mean, Nevertheless? They rowed hard? As if they hadn’t already been rowing, now they’re going to row hard?” Jonah had just given them the cause of the problem and the solution, but they rejected the solution. They were the victims of the selfish Christian mindset of, “I’m hurting no one except myself,” yet they chose to ignore the solution and tried to do it their own way.
Continuing in the story, we see that, try as they might, they could not fight the storm. It was only when they cried out to God and surrendered to His will that they found peace. Keep in mind that Jonah was not in a state of submission yet, but these sailors finally ceased from their stubbornness and turned to God.
Jonah 1:15 says, So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. It was immediate. I do not know how long they toiled in the storm. I do not know how many minutes or hours they struggled with the sails, the rigging, the winds, and the waves; but once they did what needed to be done, the peace was immediate.
So often in our lives, we struggle against God’s plan because we are simply being stubborn. We may not be necessarily running from God, but we are trying to accomplish our own plans instead of His. We find ourselves exhausted from fighting the wind. We find ourselves weak from the battering of the waves, when all God wants us to do is to submit to His will. When we submit to His will, we will receive an immediate peace.
After Jonah was cast out and peace came upon the sea, these men feared God. I am not sure who these men were, what kind of culture from which they came, or how they lived the remainder of their days, but when confronted by the Lord, these men saw His mighty power despite the testimony of a backslider. They worshipped God. The Bible even says they …made vows…
This is what we as Christians ought to do when we find ourselves in a struggle against the Lord. We need to immediately surrender. Then, the peace will come, and we can walk forward in His will, praising Him for His mercy and grace and vowing to walk always in His way.
by Krystal Salm
