Whale Barf

Our sermon in church (http://www.celebrationchurchtx.com/multimedia/index/sermons) on Sunday was on the book of Jonah. Jonah is one of those bible characters that I just don't understand, but I am eternally grateful for the inclusion of his story in the Old Testament. Just the visual picture of disobedience = whale barf is sufficient to keep me on the straight and narrow.

But, it wasn't a whale barf scripture that got my attention yesterday. It was Jonah 2:8
"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs."

Imagine the setting. Jonah has run away from a directive of the Lord, and as a result of his disobedience he has been thrown overboard as a last ditch effort to protect the safety of his fellow sailors. But, God wasn't done with Jonah; He was just trying to get his attention. So, as the story goes, the Lord provide a great fish to swallow Jonah and gave him three days to think about things. Talk about a God ordained time out.

And, during that dark, smelly time out, as Jonah thought about the consequences of his actions, he cried out to the Lord, including the observation that "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs."

Whoa! That scripture got my attention. Having my recent revelation that I lack grace for others because I fail to love them has caused the word "grace" to catch my attention in any context in scripture. "Grace" is defined as "a capacity to tolerate, accommodate, or forgive people." "Forfeit" is a word that is used to describe a penalty for wrongdoing.

Jonah is acknowledging to God that losing the grace they would otherwise have was the penalty for hanging on to worthless idols (FYI - all idols besides God are worthless). Jonah was not talking about his grace toward others, but others' grace toward him. In recognition of Jonah's "ah ha" moment, God showed tremendous grace toward Jonah and had the whale barf him up on the beach.

Things to ponder:

Grace can look and smell like whale barf. Sometimes when we find ourselves in a sticky, stinky situation, it may actually be a whole lot better than what we deserve.

On the other hand, what are the idols in your life? It can be anything from TV to a sense of security. It can be a job or a relationship. It can be a video game or a football game. Idols are anything that has a higher priority in your life than God.

There is a stiff penalty for clinging to idols. Considering Jonah's experience, I think I'll consider the consequences of those idols (and remove them from my life) before God has to show me how much he loves me by turning me into whale barf.