Being swallowed by the whale.

Jonah Moments

“The engulfing waters threatened me,

the deep surrounded me

seaweed wrapped around my head.

To the roots of the mountains I sank down:

the earth beneath barred me in forever.

But you brought my life up from the pit,

O Lord, my God.”

                          Jonah 3:5-6

         The book of Jonah is short, only four chapters. It tells the familiar story of God’s instructions to Jonah to go to Nineveh and ‘preach against it’ for its wickedness. As we know, Jonah ran the other way, and who in his right mind wouldn’t? Can you imagine being told by a disembodied voice, “Go into New York and preach against it!”? You would think, as New Yorkers would, that you needed immediate psychiatric attention. After Jonah ran away, a great storm came and tossed the ship he’d used for his escape, terrifying the others on board. They threw him into the sea, and the rest, as they say, is history. After Jonah spent three days in the belly of the whale, where he did a little one-on-one pleading for his life, he was spat onto dry land and spared. The next time God told him to go to Nineveh, by golly, he went!

         Being in the belly of the whale comes around in our lives too. A friend of mine just received one of those terrifying diagnoses that give one visions of the Grim Reaper. For more than a week, he didn’t know whether he would live or die; or whether he would live in a state that was untenable to him. Over the course of testing, getting a biopsy, and waiting for news, he must have felt as Jonah did, that ‘the earth beneath barred me in forever’. Finally, after much medical torment, he was told he had an excellent chance of survival, though treatment would be its own kind of torture. If that isn’t the belly of the whale, I don’t know what is.

         Always, when we’re swallowed up by life’s harsh realities, we go through the stage of grief that Jonah did. We assure God that if we’re spared, we’ll do whatever we’re called upon to do. We’ll straighten out the rough places and make good on our promises, and live in gratitude, knowing in a vivid new way that every day of life is a gift. When we’re spared, we become obedient.

         The truth is, we’ve been held safe in the belly of the whale, for even in its horror, it is a place of refuge. Jonah did not drown, and he did not die; he was carried safely to shore and spat out. We can rest assured that whatever swallows us whole, our faith will provide the courage needed to face our worst fears. And the next time God says, “Go to Nineveh!” we’ll go.

                                  Shalom,

                                  Jane