"How does the Jonah story touch my life?"
you ask. "It sounds like quaint mythology:
a great fish swallowing a man and then
coughing him up alive on the dry land!"
Well, yes, it sounds remote, but hear me out.
In some respects it goes on every day.
The Lord sends you and me to all mankind
to show folks like the Ninevites the way,
but we think we should follow our own path
seeking fulfillment, riches—yes, renown.
We'd like our pathway to be flowery.
We choose not Nineveh but Tarshish town.
We cannot choose but must do as we're led!
Stubborn, we find ourselves in storms,
and we are swallowed by our own dismay.
In our extremity we cry, "Help, Lord!"
Down there in a leviathan of doubt
suddenly we catch glimpses of God's light
descending through the depths to where we are,
shattering the darkness, lifting us out.
What will You have me do? Your will is mine.
I go to Nineveh to warn, beseech,
and tell of Your love for Your family.
(We are prophets, and it happens to each.)
