Our Heart conditions

While growing up and attending Sunday school at the local Baptist church, I can recall my teachers, when teaching out of the book of Jonah, spending a lot of time talking about "Jonah in the belly of the whale." They spent a lot of time talking about "the fish that God prepared for him" because (to them, and young children) it sounded exotic! It was an unbelievable, fascinating story that almost took on a "fairytale-esque" feel! As I grew older in the Lord, and accepted Jesus as personal savior, receive the Holy Spirit, got married, had children,- I still found the same version being taught some twenty years later, all exclaiming "look what happens when you disobey God!"

After having been called to ministry and preparing to teach this same Bible story to my own Sunday school class, whilst skimming through my old childhood Bible story I was halted with revelation! "How could I have missed this?" I thought to myself over, and over again as I pored over the scriptures. It was as plain as the nose on my face and as if I was reading it for the first time. This was a rich, symbolic, prophetic story, with foreshadowing and of a Savior to come and right at the heart of it was its "matter!" To receive such a revelation after almost 20 years of reading the same old story was somehow embarrassing, yet it had always been there. The difference that day, as I read with revelation was the juxtaposition between what has been "taught" and what "was." My Sunday school teachers, in their attempt for containment, had somehow skimmed past, revelation, along with the moral of the story.

You see, the story of Jonah wasn't so much about the fish, nor Jonah's disobedience to God, (which is bad enough) but it was about the condition of Jonah's heart! God went all the way around the mulberry bush to show us the condition of a man's heart so that we don't fall into that same situation. Jonah did not want to deliver his prophetic message from God to his enemies because he knew unequivocally that his God was a God of patience, kindness, grace, and mercy. Jonah hated the people of Nineveh and knew that if God were to have his word related to these people that they would indeed turn from their wicked ways. They inadvertently would then become his people-holding equal footing in the hearts of God along with him. However, with hardness of heart, Jonah did not believe that they were deserving of the same grace, mercy, and kindness that he had received.

So Jonah, like many of us chose an alternate route. He took his behind the other way, only later to be found sitting under a goiter complaining about the scorching condition of the hot sun upon his head! It was then and only then that God was able to expose Jonah's "heart condition" to him and bring relief to the people of Nineveh by way of Jonah's obedience.

"Isn't it funny? Just when we think that we have God all figured out... he throws a little mercy, grace, and forgiveness into the pot and it confuses the heart of man!"...