The Fear of the Lord Gone Bad
Not everyone who fears the Lord always lives an exemplary life like Job did. Jonah’s life teaches us something else about the fear of the Lord.
He was an anonymous face in the crowd on board a ship headed for Tarshish when a violent storm arose. “Every man for himself” wasn’t good enough after awhile. The superstitious crew members wondered who on board was responsible for this evil, destructive fierce storm. Surely someone had angered his god. By a type of lottery, they determined it was Jonah. He had their rapt attention. Just who was this man? Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? (Jonah 1:8)
Here’s Jonah’s “all you need to know in 30 seconds” elevator speech: “And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.” (Jonah 1:9-10)
Clearly, this man who feared God had issues. He wisely didn’t go into the story of why he disobeyed God. But we know why. He didn’t like God’s message he was sent to deliver to those people over there in the opposite direction in Nineveh. As a prophet, he was God’s messenger to wicked people, which we could argue, made him more spiritual than the average person—even religious people. He was told to go tell the people of Nineveh to repent of their sins and God would prevent the judgment He had planned for them. Jonah knew God would forgive them, and he didn’t want that. He wanted God to judge them. He wanted nothing to do with God’s plan.
This leads us to some serious points about spirituality. Knowledge, even insider, deep knowledge, isn’t all there is to the fear of the Lord. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Prov. 1:7) Wouldn’t you say that in the moment Jonah got on that ship headed in the opposite direction of Nineveh, he was acting as a fool?
But truth be told, we all have moments of being a fool, not agreeing with God or obeying Him. What I like best about this story is that God still worked with Jonah and with those people on the ship in the context of Jonah’s disobedience. The God we fear can and does do that.
Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee… Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows. (Jonah 1:14, 16)
They threw Jonah overboard, per his request, and a whale swallowed him. From the whale’s belly, Jonah repented, sort of.
After the whale spit him out, he went and preached to the people of Nineveh, and God spared them. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. (Jonah 4:1-3)
What was his deal? There was certainly a spiritual blemish in his life, to say the least. But let’s draw our attention to our sovereign God who works all things together for the good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).
In spite of Jonah’s attitude, God’s bigger purpose happened perfectly. Jesus spoke of Jonah (known as Jonas in the New Testament) and how his life was a prophetic picture. Imagine. God’s prophet was himself a prophetic picture:
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. (Matt. 12:39-41)
Here’s what the fear of God teaches us today: We might not be the best at fearing God, but He is the focus, not us. Let’s not be DOWN on Jonah or down on our own failings. Instead, let’s be UP on God, the object of our fear. He gets glory one way or another. Let’s be willing participants in that.
Jody