Choices - Jonah 1-4 (Episode 16)

Today’s episode is about choices. While discussing choices, we went through the book of Jonah. We discuss the choices that Jonah made, and how his decisions led to different outcomes. However, in the end  Jonah went to the place God had planned for him. 

Are you running from God just like Jonah was? If so what are you running from?

Transcript

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Hey guys, welcome to the Hurts Podcast. I'm Peyton Hurt. And I'm Kelsey Hurt. And we are excited to be back. Yes. This is episode 16. Yeah, and it's gonna be about choices. That's the title of this episode. If you watch the last two weeks, you'll see that we did separate episodes, so it's good to have my husband back next to me. And it's good to have my wife back next to me. Um it was definitely cool. How did you feel about the solo episodes? It was it was interesting. It was it was very different. It was uh uh yeah, it obviously it was something we haven't done before, so it was unique. Right. I mentioned in my podcast episode that I felt a little nervous without you, which I think is just so interesting because it shows how much I rely on you. Yes, um, and like how much community matters, which we've talked about. But I I enjoyed it. I I think we'll do that in the future here and there. No, I agree because I definitely feel like there's times where like us doing it together, um, there was times where I just caught myself like thinking about the next thing to say. Yeah. Uh, and sometimes kind of have like long pauses, which that's okay though. Yeah, yeah. We want it to be natural. Yes, we do. Anyways, vacations. So we mentioned that we went on a vacation. We were gone for a week. We went to Florida. Um, hopefully we're a little more tanner than we left. We're peeling. It's been a fun time. Yes, it's been really bad. But um, no, the vacation was good. It was much needed. Um, it was there was just a lot that led up to the vacation, a lot of things going on, a lot of things happening with our jobs, um, with ministry, uh, with just some other things that that we're a part of. Um just kind of all piled in all at once, trying to get things ready, preparing. Um, and yeah, we finally it was good. Yes, it was very good. I also am on summer break, so I'm super happy about that. As I've mentioned before, I'm a teacher, and this is my first summer break after working a full-time job. Yeah. So obviously, we went right to Florida um after school ended, so it kind of felt like a spring break. But it's finally hitting me that I get to rest, and after, you know, pouring so much of myself out for my job, I get to kind of like do things that fill me up, yeah, and um kind of work behind the scenes in different like we're a part of a nonprofit. Um, I'm able to be more available for that, um, go to the gym, do all the things I like to do. So I'm really excited about that, and yeah, I think it just adds to the excitement of summer approaching. I think of uh also like in a spiritual aspect, like different seasons in our life because uh we are entering different a different season where um things kind of slow down a little bit. Uh our our ministry uh and our focus is kind of focused more on different aspects of life, right? That kind of shifts um with like different groups um and how our time is is used, right? Yeah, yeah. Um so yeah. It's a good time. Yeah, we had a good time, but we're happy to be back filming together. And let's go ahead and get started. Today we're going to do something a little bit different. So before we left for a vacation, I think that I mentioned it would be so cool to go over the book of Jonah. And then at church this past week, the pastor preached on Jonah. Yeah. So having things that I would like to say, um, but also adding in what the pastor said is really what this podcast is gonna be about. Yeah, and it kind of just this story hits it home. We read this a long time ago, uh, and we actually made like a whole song. We have hopes of making a musical one day. I'm kidding. But we did make up a song and it's always in our head. Yeah, and it's basically just like going over what uh like like Jonah and God. I don't know, it's it's really it's really funny. Uh I don't even know where the video is, but it's not gonna see the light of the day. But yeah, Jonah is a great chapter, and uh yeah, we're gonna dive into it. So if you guys want to get to Jonah uh as we read, if you guys would like to read along, uh you're more than welcome to. So uh Kelsey's gonna get us started with the first two chapters. Yes, I'll start with Jonah chapter one. Um and let's go ahead. Jonah flees from the Lord. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amitai, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. So right away we see that sin causes Jonah, it also causes us to often run from the Lord. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. And all the sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own God, and they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, How can you sleep? Get up and call on your God. Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish. Then the sailors said to each other, Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity. They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? Verse nine. He answered, I am a Hebrew, and I worshipped the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. This terrified them, and they asked, What have you done? They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so. The sea was getting rougher and rougher, so they asked him, What should we do to you to make the sea calm for us? Pick me up and throw me into the sea, he replied, and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you. Instead the men did their best to row back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased. Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. Jonah's prayer. Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. So this even just the first chapter, it's just it captures me as a reader and as a believer. Um, you can see that he denies God of what he wants, but then these events cause him to acknowledge God and submit to him. And I just think of how often is that true in our lives where there's events that maybe we're running away from God, but then all of a sudden we turn to him, you know. Yeah. Um I think of like how often do we turn away from God when we are comfortable, um, yet acknowledge him when we aren't? How often do we pray that our sin doesn't have ramifications, um, but we promise we won't do it again if he gets us through the storm. So just connecting this to real life, you know. Right. Uh, for us in our culture in our day and age. For sure. I kind of wanted to touch on a few things that I that I noticed. Um I look at um oh, I just had it. It was it was, okay, verse five, it says, All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own God. So we see that these people were calling out to their own gods. So it doesn't specify like what kind of gods, yeah, but you see that they are, I'm assuming not like the the father, the father god. Yeah, yeah. And I think also it's just so interesting because not only is this talking about like the Ninevites, you know, but I mean I'm not sure what these men were, but they ultimately it looks like turn their life to Christ after this interaction. So how impactful that was for them. Right, yeah, because again, they were calling on different gods, and then they go to they go to Jonah asking him, you know, where do you come from? Where is your country? Um They see the power. Right, they see the power. Um, and then again we see Jonah in verse 10, he said it it says in in parentheses, they knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so. So Jonah was telling them to throw him overboard because he was blaming himself, uh, and it and it was right. It that these people got caught up in in the effects of Jonah's sin, yeah, in a way, running from God. Yeah, like that if that's not submitting to God, I don't know what is, throw me overboard so the the calm or the waves can calm down, you know. Like that's full submission. Yeah. Um yeah. Last thing I wanted to touch on is I think it's awesome in 14 that these these sailors, they said then they cried out to the Lord, please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man. For you, Lord, have done as you please. So they saw God's power in the storm as they continued to row back to land. Um it says that the the sea grows even wilder. So I think the sailors at the point, they were they were seeing that and they were like, wow, like there has to be that like his God must be real. Like this must be real. So they were asking almost for like repentance for what they were about to do, but it was kind of what Jonah was asking for in a way. But then after they throw him overboard, we see then again uh offer a sacrifice to the Lord and make vows to him. So in a way, they're kind of giving they are giving and turning their their life to Christ to Christ. It's an action-packed story already. Yeah. So chapter two, now we're going into Jonah's prayer. So this is what Jonah's saying. From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord as God. He said, In my distress I called to the Lord and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled around me, all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple. The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me, seaweed was wrapped around my head. The imagery of this is so crazy. To the roots of the mountains I sank down. The earth beneath barred me in forever, but you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them, but I with shouts of grateful praise will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say salvation comes from the Lord. And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry lands. Wow. Yeah. That's so good. Um, and so a couple things. Jonah 1, so what we read before this, it left off with the Lord isolating Jonah and the belly of the fish. Um, and in the isolation, I think Jonah saw it for how it was. Like, you know, he was blinded by his selfishness, he was blinded by his flesh, what he wanted, what he was scared to do. Um, but he saw it for how it was, and his depth desperation. If you read this, if you heard me read it, this sounds like desperation to me, crying out to the Lord. Yeah. Um, but it allowed him to see it for how it was. And now we're going to see does Jonah apply what he says? Let's take a look. Chapter three. Jonah goes to Nineveh. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim it to the proclaim it to it. To it, the message I give you. Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city. It took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city. Can I pause you really quick? Yeah. How crazy. If he listened the first time, the amount of time it takes to go through the city, he would have been done with like the amount of time he was in the whale. Yes. Does that let me make that make sense? Yeah, because it was three days and three nights. He was already in the whale fish, his belly, for three days. Uh-huh. And he could have gone through Nineveh in that time. Isn't that so crazy how our choices sometimes delay God's goodness, God's glory, like what he has for us? Yeah. I think of I think of uh like I I I'm sure most people have seen this like image, but there's like there's a guy uh standing at the like at the edge of a road, and it's like there's the straight path that's like very, you know, quick and easy, and then there's like the path that's like very windy. And I feel like like he said, that that's a really good point where it's like Jonah Jonah could have been done already. And I wonder if that's why it's included, because it's like, yeah, it's just the decision that he made, he could have already done what he needed to do. Right, and not that it was like a time constraint or whatever, but it was just like more of like Jonah could have been there and maybe gone elsewhere, right? To proclaim elsewhere. Yeah, that's a good point too. Interesting. Okay, sorry. No, you're good. Forty more days. Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown. We're on verse five now. The Nineveh believed God, a fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah's warning reached the king in Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation proc yeah, proclamation proclamation he issued in Nineveh. By the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let people or animals, herds, or flocks taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink, but let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God, let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows, God may yet relent, and with compassion turn from his fierce anger, so that we will not perish. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. His choice didn't only save the Ninevehes or like save their souls. Um but it it's such a good example of like how one choice could change like their direction, you know, it could affect the Ninevites. Right. Um, or Jonah even. So yeah. Yeah. So I wanna like kind of go over some points here. Uh I want to go back to verse 3 because it says Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. So obviously, after the first time running, being on ship, being thrown overboard, uh being in the fish, we see that again, this is the second time that the Lord came to Jonah uh to go to Nineveh. So, you know, we see Jonah finally being obedient. Um and I know Kelsey touched on this. We saw how big this city was. Three days to go through it. Like, that's just like I can't wrap my mind around that. That that's just that's just crazy to me. Um and then we see from that the people, the Ninevites in verse 5, the Nineveh believe God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth, and then it reaches the king. King does the same thing, and they all give their life, they they believe in God. They turn into God-fearing people because they're worried that like they truly believe after what Jonah proclaimed that they yeah, they believe that God would bring destruction to their city. Because of their sin. Yeah, because of their sin. So so we see them flip heart change, right? We see that heart change and them turn turn away from the evil ways. Um last thing I wanted to touch on um is we look at in verse 10 when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. Um I think we see that today. Um that people that don't turn their hearts to the Lord, um, you know, in the end they are going to have eternal separation from God and Jesus. So I know in a way that like this is he's proclaiming like destruction, but Jonah shared and proclaimed the word of God, and if he didn't do that, their I don't know what word to use, their life might have been different. Their outlook after their afterlife might have looked different, right? If they didn't give if they didn't turn away from their evil ways. Yeah, can I say something really quick? So growing up in the church, this is a story that um I learned really young because you know, the big the imagery, like the fish swelling Jonah, yeah, all of that, and it's an important story. And I think as a kid, I I would always be like, why didn't he go to Nineveh? Yeah. Like, come on, Jonah, it's just easy go to them. But growing up and like, you know, meeting different kinds of people and going to different kinds of cities and like seeing the sin in our world, well, I'm a sinner too, but you know what I mean? Like just seeing it as it is. I can't imagine going to a big city and as much as I'd love to say, like, I'm gonna evangelize, like, it's it's scary to think because of the different things that could happen for sharing my faith, or like who knows what kind of sinful of sinful city Nineveh was and what he saw and what he interacted with, or you know, what could have happened. So I guess all that to say, like the the courage to have the faith and to evangelize is something that we should all um be praying for or like seeking, like the importance of evangelism because once again the choice that Jonah finally went to Nineveh, like it changed the trajectory of these people's lives. Right, yeah. No, for sure. Totally right. Chapter four. Chapter four. Jonah's anger at the Lord's compassion. So but to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? This is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live. But the Lord replied, Is it right for you to be angry? Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in his shade and wanted to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort. Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die and said, It would be better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, It is right for you to is it right for you to be angry about the plant? It is, he said, and I'm so angry, I wish I were dead. But the Lord said, You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I have and should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hands from their left, and also many animals? Okay, so we see there Jonah's the story of Jonah ends kind of abruptly, right? Um but going back to the beginning, again, we see Jonah upset. He's he's angry. And you're asking, okay, why is Jonah angry? Um Jonah was angry because he thought that the people of Nineveh should have been destroyed, right? He thought that um they should have not, God should have not showed mercy to him. And we see that because in verse 2 he said, Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? This is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious God and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love. So Jonah was running because he knew that if he went to Nineveh, that again, Jonah thought that Nineveh should be destroyed. That if he went to proclaim there that God would show compassion if they turned away from their evil ways. But we see here Jonah does not want to sh give the Ninevites mercy. He wants them to be destroyed. Um we see that later on. Um so. So and then as we move forward in verse five, Jonah had gone out and sat at the place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade, and waited to see what would happen to the city. So Jonah is still like he's still waiting to see if something changes, right? He's waiting to see if the city gets destroyed or not, or if God will um sh you know just show the destruction that that he proclaimed that he would do. It's so interesting, because I just I wonder what is behind that. Like if it's pride or you know, unforgiveness. And I just think it's such an interesting way to end Jonah. Yeah. Because like you said, it ended abruptly. Yeah. Um, but it's like what happened to Jonah after that, you know? So I think it's a great picture of like showing God's mercy, it's so evident, but also showing kind of like how we can tend to be when people hurt us. Yes, yeah. Um, holding on to that anger and then bitterness growing like that plant. And yeah, it's it's such a it's like a short story. It's literally these two pages of my Bible and your Bible. Yeah. But it's so complex. Like it it it has so much to it. So I really like the story. Yeah. So I kind of wanted to keep going on on uh touching on points. So so in verse six, we see again Jonah is sitting well watching out for the city, it's hot, um, and God provided a plant over his head. So we see Jonah was happy, um, and then God provided a worm and it destroyed the plant. So now um, you know, the the the sun is beating on Jonah, right? And and Jonah's he's upset now, and and he says in verse 9, um, he said, I'm so angry, I wish I were dead. So he was so upset about this plant being destroyed, when we see further on here in verse 10, you but the Lord said, You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. So instead of being thankful for what God had done, you know, uh Jonah did nothing to this plant whatsoever. He had no um partake in in growing this plant and tending it, right? So so we see that, but he's still frustrated at God for that. Yeah, it's it's also like the choice to be either negative or positive in those instances, you know? Um, yeah. Crazy. And then um to finish it off, I think it just shows like this uh how severe like Jonah going to Nineveh was because like think of a hundred and twenty more than a hundred and twenty thousand people. Yeah. Um so I just yeah, I think that's a good thing. The number really puts it into perspective. I like that. That's great. Um so going into kind of like the side of Pastor Fred's so Pastor Fred at our church talked about Jonah, and he talked about how God is a god of second chances, which again that's so evident in here. Um, and knowing that he God is compassionate in a time where you know, like Noah's Ark, like God's wrath, you could see that strongly. Um, so going into seeing God's compassion for a city of people, just what a powerful testament that is. Yeah. Uh I also wanted to bring up like a personal story in my own life um with this because you know, again, Jonah is running away from kind of out of fear, I guess, in a way, too, uh, but also priorities. Um, and I want to relate that to my life because there's times where like I have a hard time with my job. Again, I'm uh uh I'm in the union, I'm a carpenter, and honestly, I've I've had a lot of rough patches um throughout my almost five, six years in the job. And, you know, there's times where I question and and I wish I could just leave, where I could just get out of it, just be done, go do something else. Um, but every time that thought comes up, God always shows me something. God always gives me somebody, puts something in my path, uh, gives me confirmation that that's where my ministry is right now. But, you know, for me personally, um, it's not something I always enjoy day to day, right? Uh and that's probably for any job, but um, you know, there's times where I do want to just run from where God has called me to be. And I feel like that is uh I can look look at Jonah and see that in myself sometimes where I where I just just want to run from it all. Yeah. No, I think that I'm that's a good story because I think that it's so easy to want to run away from what God has for us, especially on a bad day. And I look back at my own life, you talking about that made me think like how often and I like I'm just done, I'm just gonna quit this. This is hard, just even hard for a second. Yeah. Um yeah. And maybe when discussing choices, you're not, you listener, you the listener, you're not intently fleeing from God, you're not choosing to turn your back. Um, but maybe it's staying in a relationship that's not healthy, uh, that doesn't lead you to God, and you know that, you know, you're not actively running away, but you're sitting still when you're supposed to keep walking with the Lord. Right. Um, and that actually I can relate to that, and that's why Jonah, I've always loved it, because there's just so much that I can relate that I could relate to. Um, or maybe you the listener, you're choosing unforgiveness, like we talked about holding on to the bitterness instead of understanding God's grace and how we should have grace, and you're just waiting to see Nineveh crumble when it's supposed to thrive now. Right. Um, so all that to say, like, when it comes down to choices, are you obeying God? Um, are you choosing to stay bitter? And sin, really, sin can be such a slow fade. So being aware of our godliness, like how how are you walking with God daily? What choices are you making? Because you could be compromising for just a little bit, but again, it's eventually gonna be a slow fade. Yeah, slow fade. So stay in your word, read your Bibles, have community. Yes. What we try to teach. Yeah, what we try to teach. So that kind of wraps things up for us. Kelsey, do you have anything else? I think that's all. I know this is again different. We don't usually go through scripture and read it. Um, but I love Jonah, and I think it's such a good story, and there's so many angles you can look at with it. Um, but yeah, I think that's it. Thank you for listening. We hope that you're having a great week. And if you have any prayer requests, remember to comment. We're on YouTube, we're on Apple Podcasts, we're on Spotify. Yes, and and if you feel like again, you have somebody around you that uh, you know, maybe maybe they don't go to church, maybe uh maybe it's hard for them to get there on Sundays. Maybe this can be an outlet for people to uh, you know, not necessarily hear a sermon, but um just get into the word, hear, hear some things, and uh, you know, learn and grow. That's what that's what we're here to try to do. So um thank you guys for listening, and we'll see you guys next week. See you next week.