Jonah’s Prayer

"And the LORD commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." Jonah 2:10 (NIV)

A friend of mine pointed me to these two verses before I got to them in chapter two of Jonah.

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice for you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD.
Jonah 2:8-9

Chapter two of Jonah is his prayer after he is swallowed by the fish. In it, he is thanking God for His mercy. That he would be swallowed by a fish and that God spared him from drowning.

Many of the parts of the prayer are strait out of the Psalms but his grasp that God was at the center of his situation is awesome. He realizes that he disobeyed and that God punished him to make a point but in His infinite wisdom and love He still wants to use Jonah.

He still wants Jonah to be His man.

A lot of times I struggle with thinking I’ve done too much bad stuff–or that one thing that takes me out of God’s plan. But Jonah literally heard a command from God, walked in the opposite direction, probably joked about it, and defied God to His face. And God still wanted to use him.

In the midst of his punishment he sees his dire situation not through his own eyes–mad that he is in a fish and not on a boat headed to Tarshish–but through the eyes of God. He realizes that God is working all things together for His glory. He thanks God for the fish. He dedicates himself to the LORD’s purpose. In verse six he says, “…but You brought my life up from the pit, O LORD, my God.” Jonah realizes that it is his fault that he is there but it is compeltely God’s hand working him out of that situation, shaping him along the way.

I looked ahead to chapter three and saw that God asks Jonah to go to Ninevah again. This is forgiveness by God and a second chance given to Jonah. It’s a chance He wants to give us but often we don’t accept. We need to start taking that chance so that God can use us in the Ninavahs in our world.

Well At Least He’s Been Redempted

Looking fierce as always...

Tonight I was treated to two more hours of my personal favorite terrorist-stomping superstar, Jack Bauer. 24: Redemption aired and attempted to bridge the gap between Season 6 (officially ‘Day Six’) and Season 7 (also, ‘Day Seven’). With the writer’s strike of last year, the season ended up getting canned. This was written and shot in the mean time to fill in the blanks.

Without giving too much away, Jack is on the run. He’s still his normal kick-tail-take-names-later self with the hidden emotional side to get those ratings we all love. But there’s something about him you see in his character after the last season–after he got back from Chinese torture camps. It’s like he just doesn’t care about himself anymore. It’s interesting. We’ll have to see if that’s how he plays it for the rest of the season.

I always think it’s interesting trying to guess the statements and political leanings of the writers. It’s more obvious some times than others. In season five President Logan was a big deceiver and behind it all–in the midst of lots of questions about President Bush and Iraq coming out. They didn’t make him ostensibly Republican but there were hints of it. Ironically, he seemed most like President Clinton in his demeanor. And it’s interesting that Clinton has largely redeemed himself in the public sphere–which later happens to Logan in the 24 universe.

Wayne Palmer was probably the most bipartisan 24 President, but also the least important in terms of story. His sucessor, Noah Daniels, is just screaming Republican. There’s a grizzled, military-based, blinding-pride about him that seems to be the way anyone would characterize a Republican these days. And wouldn’t you know it! His successor is a woman. There’s an interesting scene that plays out something like this, suggesting more about the politics of the show…

Daniels: “I appreciate your optimism.”
Taylor: “I can’t say the same for your pessimism.”
Daniels walks around and sits in his chair in the Oval Office
Daniels: “We’ll talk again when you’ve sat in my chair for two years.”

I wonder if they’re trying to make any statements about our next President. Keep in mind that when this was filmed, Hilary was still very much in the race. The most popular of the 24 Presidents was without a doubt David Palmer. Described in the show as a Democrat, he bears the most resemblance to Reagan. Cool, calm, comfortable, resolute, wise, and incredibly popular. It’s interesting that the Reagan-esque President preceded the Clinton-eqsue who was followed by a Republican characature and who is followed by a woman.

Maybe I’m a dork, but I love trying to think about what the writers are thinking when they make a show like this. It’s doesn’t take much in the way of brains to try to put together the plot for a season of 24. The requisite plot twists show some wit. But it’s the social commentary that shines through that makes the writing truly fantastic. Love it.

If you haven’t been sold yet, check out Season 1 on DVD. The new season starts in January 2009.

Going in the Opposite Direction

I started reading Jonah today. It’s always cool to read the actual text from stories we all know. You always find little things in the text you didn’t notice before–depth in the story beyond the basics. Today wasn’t any different.

So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.
Jonah 1:15-16 (ESV)

After Jonah runs away from God and the storm comes upon the sailors, Jonah tells them to him into the sea. Eventually they do. As soon as they do, the sea is calm. The men fear God exceedingly and then they offer a sacrifice and made vows. Essentially, they were converted.

I think it’s amazing that God was able to use not only Jonah’s unbelief but His punishmen of him to serve a purpose to bring glory. We question a lot when things don’t go well in our lives, but isn’t that still exactly where God wants us? We wonder why God would let us still mess up over and over again even under grace, but doesn’t God want to use that?

If God could do it with Jonah, he could do it with us. Maybe He wants to take all of our sin, shortcomings, and doubt–all of our humanity–and use it for His glory to bring others to Him and his glory. It’s amazing to think of a God who could do that, who is that powerful. I have to realize that I’m not even good enough at being bad to be unusable. That’s downright humbling

Happy Trails

It's been good, Coco.

Today it’s official. The Red Sox traded centerfielder Coco Crisp. Rumore of a deal came up a year ago and the deal was all but inevitable given the emergence of Jacoby Ellsbury a year ago in the playoffs. Throughout his tenure with the Red Sox Coco played outstanding defense, often running down sure singles and turning them into outs. He was literally a human highlight real and a pitcher’s best friend. He leaves with a career .283 BA with a .751 OPS. Coupled with his excellent defense and you have an extremely valuable player.

And then there was this…

Pwn'd.

In return, we get relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez who could certainly be useful. At the very least, he could be flipped to try to pick up another impact player. Happy trails, Coco.

Just one of many outstanding catches...

Not But By Grace

Something to enjoy while you read…

I have struggled recently with the idea of grace-motivated humility (how to actually do it, not necessarily what it is) and with the reality of how I should allow God to use me in the arena of evangelism. A friend of mine showed me this verse and after thinking about it it seems to tie the two ideas together.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
1 Corinthians 15:10-11 (ESV)

Paul understands that he is what he is solely because of grace–bringing humility. It is out of this that he is motivated to live a life that he calls “worthy of the Gospel” in Ephesians 4. Then he says something odd. At first glance it seems prideful. He says he worked harder than any of them, meaning the other apostles. But he clears it up saying that it was not him but ultimately the grace of God. He talks about sharing grace more in Ephesians 3 and why he works so hard. But then at the end he qualifies it all and offers the glory to God. Essentially he says, “but whether it was me or the other apostles, you now believe.” Essentially, I work hard out of grace. You believed. If it was me, sweet. Regardless, glory be to God.

There is so much contained in this passage. Tons to learn. Tons to apply. And lots of ways to take this and make it a part of my life and how I approach my life. I need to live and work as fully as possible for the right reasons, valueing humility nearly above all else. To this end, I need to use my life to glorify God and reach others. It’s easy to talk about all this. But examining how to do this (even though the two are tied together) is the hard part.