Jump Start # 3807
Jonah 4:3 “Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.”
Elijah, Jonah and Job. Have you ever seen the connection between those three? Certainly they were men of God. Elijah and Jonah were prophets. But in their own ways, going through some really dark valleys, all three wished that they were dead. For Job, he wished that he died at birth. Elijah and Jonah wanted the Lord to take their lives. They were not suicidal. In suicide a person decides to take matters into his own hands and take his life. No, these three wanted the Lord to do it. They were through with life. All three faced different situations.
For Elijah it was fear. Crazy Jezebel had issued a death warrant against Elijah and he was hiding, scared in a cave. He thought he was the only one left. Lonely, scared, he wanted the Lord to take him.
For Jonah, he was put out with God. He was told to preach to a people he didn’t care about. And, the people responded favorably to his preaching. Rather than rejoicing that hearts were turning to the Lord, Jonah got angry. And, pouting on hillside, he longed for the Lord to just take him.
For Job, it was the intense turmoil that he was enduring. He lost everything. He children were killed. His source of income, herds and flocks, were stolen. His health was gone. His wife, his friends, condemned him and gave up. He wished that he had died at birth. He had no desire to live.
Elijah, Jonah and Job. Each traveling through different valleys all suffered from the same problem. And, it’s the same problem that you and I also struggle with. For them and for us, it’s a faith issue. Scared, our faith runs thin. Disappointed, our faith runs out. Hurting, the pain suppresses our faith.
Can you imagine sitting in a coffee shop and at the booth next to you, are Elijah, Jonah and Job. What a sad and dark conversation that would be. Who was hurting the most? Who was complaining the loudest? All three wished that God would take their lives.
Here are some lessons for us:
First, we don’t all travel through the same valleys. What I would tell Jonah is not the same thing I would tell Elijah. Both no longer wanted to stick around, but God had other plans for them. When we gather together on a Sunday, we each are facing our own unique temptations, battles, struggles and valleys. I would have a hard time relating to Job. My life has never been like his. I don’t know his pain. However, I do know what pain feels like.
It’s easy to assume that we are all going through the same things. We are not. It’s easy to think that the way I feel is how everyone else feels. They don’t. Broad generalities can be so broad that they help no one.
Second, God did not grant any of these three their death wishes. In fact, Elijah never died. The Lord took him upward to Heaven. Job lived on. Jonah lived on. When we think we’ve gotten to the end of our journey, the Lord may still have things for us to do. Job would once again flourish. He had more flocks than before. He had more children. The Lord would use Job as an example of righteousness in Ezekiel and patience in the book of James. Those dark valleys we travel through may seem to have no end in sight. We begin to wonder if it would be better to turn around and go back, but we can’t. Another day, and we are still in that dark valley. God is not only with us, as Psalms promises, but God is at the other end.
Third, it’s important to listen when someone is hurting, scared and disappointed. God recorded the words and feelings of these three. Had the Lord left those words out of the Biblical record, we may conclude that they were nearly perfect. Nothing bothered them. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that he was depressed. Thomas doubted. Peter denied. Perfection is only found in the Lord. It helps to know that I’m not the only one who feels scared or disappointed, or hurting. It’s important to see how God dealt with these three. The Lord never tossed them aside. The Lord never gave up on them.
There are times when a person may wish he had a different job. We may wish that we lived in a different house or even a different location. But with Elijah, Jonah and Job, they all wished that they were no longer among the living. In a time when there was no professional counselors, medication, or, therapy dogs, for those three, or, even a church to comfort and help them, the Lord was there. The Lord got them through.
You and I are on this side of those stories. We see how faith was challenged, tested and became stronger. Those three did not have a risen Savior as we know Him. They did not have the promises of Heaven as we have. They did not have the fellowship of God’s people as we have. And, yet, we do a lot worse than they. Our problems are not nearly to the degree that they endured. We don’t have the leader of the nation calling for our death. We don’t have the pains that Job had. Yet, we have to rely on so many external things to get us through the day. I wonder if we need to look deeper into our faith and the promises of God.
There is a place for medication and counseling, but our times can lead us to rely more on those things than on the Lord.
Elijah, Jonah and Job—an interesting combination. A interesting trio of faith issues. An interesting connection among them. And, a wonder reminder to us that God is good, patient and loving. Valleys—we all have some. And, we must travel through those valleys. The Lord does not intend for the valleys to defeat us. The Lord does not expect us to stay in those valleys. The valleys are not our home.
Reaching the other side with the Lord is where we need to be.
Roger