Do you like it when somebody tells you not to do something? I don’t. Why? Like most people, I like to think I know better. Unfortunately, over the years I have found out the hard way that I’m usually wrong and I should have listened. There were times the outcomes were no big deal and at others times they were could’ve been dangerous.
We experienced one outcome that was can laugh at now. A few years ago, I had a little surprise when I was ordering lunch in a drive-thru. I was able to roll my car window down to order, but then I couldn’t get it to roll back up. Once I returned to work, it took a few tries to get it back up. To be honest, I got so busy at work that I forgot about my window. That Saturday, Tim and I were sitting in traffic as we were heading into Townsend. For some reason, I remembered about my window, so I casually made the comment: “Don’t roll my window down. I had a hard time getting it to roll back up the other day.” So, what did he immediately do? Yep, he reached over and touched the “Down” button. It went down, but it didn’t go back up. To make the situation that much better, it began to rain.
Then there was the one that was more dangerous than I realized. It happened when Tim bought a new lawn mower. Let’s just say the way he tried to unload it after we got it back home didn’t work as he had planned. Actually, it didn’t work at all. Then he had another idea on how to do it. That’s when he told me: “Stand out of the way so you don’t get hurt.” Did I listen? Nope. I was too worried about him getting injured. As he began to unload it, I jumped in to help. Instead of helping, I made the situation worse. The lawn mower bounced up and slammed into my face. It hit me so hard that it laid me out on the ground. I remember hurting and hearing a panicked Tim calling my name. Once I was able get up, I wanted to kick my own rear. I knew it was by the Grace of God that Einstein here didn’t break any bones in her face or do any other damage to it.
“Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa…” Jonah 1:1-3 (KJV)
As I discovered, not listening to directions from another person can cause some problems. But as Jonah found out, being disobedient to The Lord can cause unpleasant consequences you never thought of. Now, that doesn’t mean you will be swallowed by a fish like Jonah was if you are in rebellion from Him. Nonetheless, it can still lead to something much worse than fish guts.
Recently I had somebody point something out to me about Jonah that I must have glossed over for years. In Jonah 2:5, it talks about weeds being wrapped around his head. So, when he came out of the fish, he was probably walking around with seaweed tangled up in his hair and hanging off of his ears. Now I can’t get that image out of my head.