While
the book of Jonah is a small book, it certainly has much for us to learn presently and in our ongoing learning.
Throughout
our lives we come across various thoughts and ideas that are not the same as our own and we need to be open to hear these,
so that we may possibly gain a new perspective. The same would be true when God
speaks into our lives through His Word, through His Spirit, and through His people, so that we may gain a new perspective…His
perspective. This new perspective is called a paradigm shift, which is a change
in our thinking or our perspective. As followers of Christ, we need to be open
and submissive to the Lord’s leading when He “calls us” and when He desires for us to gain His perspective. Prayer is always a great beginning in our response to His call and then obedience
to that call.
As
we read in the book of Jonah…God’s heart is for the nations, not just one particular group of people. We can observe through Jonah’s circumstances how God helps Jonah to experience a change in his thinking
about the Assyrians and God’s concern for non-Jewish people. After the
paradigm shift, Jonah saw that God’s mercy is not reserved exclusively for Israel.
God has concern for all He created and shows His mercy and grace to all who repent.
During
our time in gaining new perspectives, God will take us through various shaping processes, which may begin with a specific
assignment as with Jonah, “Go to Nineveh”. Next, we may be shaped through our obedience or lack of obedience to our assignment(s)
and possibly we go through a life crisis circumstance. For Jonah, his life crisis
was being swallowed by the big fish and spending time in the belly of the fish. In our lives and ministry it is important
to maintain a learning posture throughout, as we go through such shaping processes. Next you may enter a time when God again asks you to “Go to Nineveh”. We see in the book of Jonah that the second time around, Jonah did obey God’s
call. Jonah gained a new perspective…God’s
perspective.
Throughout
my life, I have been aware that God’s heart is for all people. But it was
in August 1998, when I recommitted my life to Christ that I experienced a newly changed heart and a changed perspective. Prior to this change, God was at work shaping me through the various processes along
the way. This recommitment to the Lord was a full surrendering to His Will,
not my will. At that moment, God placed such an incredible love in my heart for
all people and a desire for all to have a personal relationship with Jesus. This
pivotal moment impacted me in other areas of my life as well. When God calls me to particular roles or assignments, I am reminded
of and reflect upon my commitment to Him. This moment in time, powerfully reminds me that when God calls…I need to obey
His Call. Sometimes I do not understand His plan and do not see the big picture,
but I am reminded in Ephesians 3 that He loves me and He can do more in and through
me than I could ever dream or imagine. So…I need to trust Him and “go”
wherever He calls me and “go” spread the Good News.
Is
God speaking to you at this moment in time? Has He called you to a particular
role in ministry and are you running in the opposite direction? Is He calling you to spread the Good News through cross-cultural
missions…or possibly to “go” on a short-term missions trip…or has He been stirring in your heart to
reach out to your neighbor right next door or to your co-worker in the cubical next to yours?
Wherever it is…obey and “go”. Gain a new perspective…Gain God’s perspective.
I
would be interested in hearing your stories of how God has taken you through a paradigm shift that led to you seeing God’s
Perspective. Please email your stories to me at ac_discipleship@yahoo.com. Remember your stories could be encouraging to others that
may be experiencing a similar situation.
If
you would like to study the book of Jonah more in depth, I would recommend reading and mediating on the book of Jonah, along
with acquiring the following Bible Commentary: Jonah: Seeing God’s Perspective, A Crucial Paradigm Shift by J. Robert Clinton and Una Lucey. This commentary resource includes 31 articles that are very enlightening.
This resource is available on Amazon.com.
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