It was closing time, and the frantic rush to close and go home had already begun. The door was being locked as the last customer was let out the door. A man came up, I had seen him many times before, and he seemed to always come about this time. He didn’t have a lot of money, and he wasn’t prepared, he wasn’t a nice person, but he came and asked if anyone could help.
I called him over to my desk and he filled out his deposit slip as my coworkers looked on in annoyed astonishment. I processed the transaction and gave him his change, thanking him for his business.
After he had left my coworkers began to go on about the last minute customers and the rude, inconsiderateness of his actions. It may be true, he did not deserve for us to help him, and after all we were closed. He didn’t deserve to be waited on in any way, and he wasn’t even grateful. I tried to explain about grace, but it was lost on them. I was frustrated trying to communicate a concept that only God could relate to them. I realize they are blind to grace because God has not revealed it to them.
I got to thinking about that act of grace later. It was the end of the day and I was tired and I had some very challenging clients that took a lot of my energy. I didn’t want to help him and I certainly could have said no. But God in his gracious sovereignty made it different. I can give God all the credit for that, because it certainly wasn’t anything in myself, it makes me think back to the story of Jonah; God’s grace was certainly more evident because of Jonahs lack of it. I was reading in Jonah this week and a part I must have read so many times before had really stood out. The men on the ship turned to God and worshipped him because of Gods punishment of Jonah. God in his grace had allowed Jonahs sin as a means to bring unbelievers to himself. Jonah then realizes the grace of God in his own life as he is sinking in the ocean. I like the dialogue in chapter two when Jonah is praying from the belly of the fish:
“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. 2 He said, "I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the world of the dead,* and Lord, you heard me! 3 You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves. 4 Then I said, `O Lord, you have driven me from your presence. How will I ever again see your holy Temple?'
5 "I sank beneath the waves, and death was very near. The waters closed in around me, and seaweed wrapped itself around my head. 6 I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was locked out of life and imprisoned in the land of the dead. But you, O Lord my God, have snatched me from the yawning jaws of death!
7 "When I had lost all hope, I turned my thoughts once more to the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple. 8 Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies. 9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone."
10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit up Jonah on the beach, and it did.”(Jonah2, NLT)
It seems that Jonah understood God’s grace, after all he knew if Nineveh repented God would save them, and this is where the disconnect occurs. Although God has just rescued him and shown him amazing grace, he doesn’t understand why God would save Nineveh, he wanted justice and judgment, like the parable of the servant whose debt was forgiven then he went out and demanded repayment from someone else(Matthew 18:23-35). He was shown grace, yet he didn’t get why Nineveh deserved it. After preaching judgment he went up to the hillside and waited to watch God destroy the city, and was sorely upset when it did not happen.
It’s easy for us to sit back and comment on Jonahs lack of Grace, but who are we to say such things, we are often in the same boat as Jonah. We run from God because we don’t agree with the way that he works, we think it should go the way we want it to. Fortunately it doesn’t work that way, how many of us deserve the grace we have received. If you truly understand the definition of grace the answer to that question would be none of us.
However what is noteworthy about Jonah is the fact that he made it into the cannon of scripture. That alone should tell us there is much to be learned from him, and how God used him, not only did God use him to bring the sailors to salvation, but also the city of Nineveh. We can roam around in our selfishness and totally miss what God is doing around us, but that doesn’t mean that God isn’t using us. That gives hope for us all. We too like Jonah must recognize that our salvation comes from the Lord alone, it’s only by his grace and without it we would be blind and lost too.
I want to remember this and to be used of God to help others understand this mystery of Grace. Whether God has me doing that where I am now, working at the bank, and in my local church, or if he decides to use me else where, I want to be a representative of his grace.
I called him over to my desk and he filled out his deposit slip as my coworkers looked on in annoyed astonishment. I processed the transaction and gave him his change, thanking him for his business.
After he had left my coworkers began to go on about the last minute customers and the rude, inconsiderateness of his actions. It may be true, he did not deserve for us to help him, and after all we were closed. He didn’t deserve to be waited on in any way, and he wasn’t even grateful. I tried to explain about grace, but it was lost on them. I was frustrated trying to communicate a concept that only God could relate to them. I realize they are blind to grace because God has not revealed it to them.
I got to thinking about that act of grace later. It was the end of the day and I was tired and I had some very challenging clients that took a lot of my energy. I didn’t want to help him and I certainly could have said no. But God in his gracious sovereignty made it different. I can give God all the credit for that, because it certainly wasn’t anything in myself, it makes me think back to the story of Jonah; God’s grace was certainly more evident because of Jonahs lack of it. I was reading in Jonah this week and a part I must have read so many times before had really stood out. The men on the ship turned to God and worshipped him because of Gods punishment of Jonah. God in his grace had allowed Jonahs sin as a means to bring unbelievers to himself. Jonah then realizes the grace of God in his own life as he is sinking in the ocean. I like the dialogue in chapter two when Jonah is praying from the belly of the fish:
“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. 2 He said, "I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the world of the dead,* and Lord, you heard me! 3 You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves. 4 Then I said, `O Lord, you have driven me from your presence. How will I ever again see your holy Temple?'
5 "I sank beneath the waves, and death was very near. The waters closed in around me, and seaweed wrapped itself around my head. 6 I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was locked out of life and imprisoned in the land of the dead. But you, O Lord my God, have snatched me from the yawning jaws of death!
7 "When I had lost all hope, I turned my thoughts once more to the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple. 8 Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies. 9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone."
10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit up Jonah on the beach, and it did.”(Jonah2, NLT)
It seems that Jonah understood God’s grace, after all he knew if Nineveh repented God would save them, and this is where the disconnect occurs. Although God has just rescued him and shown him amazing grace, he doesn’t understand why God would save Nineveh, he wanted justice and judgment, like the parable of the servant whose debt was forgiven then he went out and demanded repayment from someone else(Matthew 18:23-35). He was shown grace, yet he didn’t get why Nineveh deserved it. After preaching judgment he went up to the hillside and waited to watch God destroy the city, and was sorely upset when it did not happen.
It’s easy for us to sit back and comment on Jonahs lack of Grace, but who are we to say such things, we are often in the same boat as Jonah. We run from God because we don’t agree with the way that he works, we think it should go the way we want it to. Fortunately it doesn’t work that way, how many of us deserve the grace we have received. If you truly understand the definition of grace the answer to that question would be none of us.
However what is noteworthy about Jonah is the fact that he made it into the cannon of scripture. That alone should tell us there is much to be learned from him, and how God used him, not only did God use him to bring the sailors to salvation, but also the city of Nineveh. We can roam around in our selfishness and totally miss what God is doing around us, but that doesn’t mean that God isn’t using us. That gives hope for us all. We too like Jonah must recognize that our salvation comes from the Lord alone, it’s only by his grace and without it we would be blind and lost too.
I want to remember this and to be used of God to help others understand this mystery of Grace. Whether God has me doing that where I am now, working at the bank, and in my local church, or if he decides to use me else where, I want to be a representative of his grace.
posted by becka at 8:29 PM
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