The story of Jonah is one that is known to most. If no bells are ringing, then here is the story in the nutshell: Jonah was a prophet who was instructed by God to preach in Nineveh. Refusing orders, he tried his best to run from God and what the plan was for his life. This only led to misery, humiliation, and near destruction, for he was tossed off a ship into the roaring sea and ultimately swallowed by an enormous fish. God had mercy, however, and gave Jonah a second chance; He instructed the fish to deposit Jonah on land and then instructed Jonah once again to go to Nineveh. Jonah completed his task, but became angry at God for not handing out punishment to Nineveh for their wicked ways. He decided to stay angry and went away from the city, sulking. Even still, God provided for Jonah; He made a tall plant grow above Jonah, sheltering him from the heat. It is one of the first Bible stories that children are taught in Sunday School--after all, the story of someone getting swallowed by a fish for the entirety of three days is wild enough to hold nearly any child's attention. Unfortunately, the tale of Jonah is too often left in the children's ministry. As children grow older, it slides to the far reaches in the back of their brains and is hardly discussed. Jonah's story remains there, but it is so far buried that it is not really thought of.
Verses such as Jeremiah 29:11 ("For I now the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope...") are constantly quoted, especially to college students. They are meant to be encouraging in this confusing time in our lives--and they are. Let me be clear: there is absolutely nothing wrong with verses such as these. However, human nature is forgotten when quoting them. I doubt we are all like Paul in the New Testament, unquestioning of where to go and what to do, and completely going with the flow (though, yes, that is what we should seek to be).
We are stubborn creatures! We want to go our own way--and you can bet that is exactly what we are going to do!
And so we do. We shake our heads, we grind our heels into the ground, and we march with heads held high in the completely opposite direction of where God is telling us to go. And the fact that our culture is constantly encouraging us to break away from things that are "holding us back" and pursue our pleasure and desires hardly helps matters. Just like Jonah, we run from what God expects us to do. And just like God allowed Jonah to make his own choice, He allows us that freedom as well, even though it breaks His heart to watch us struggle. For you see, choices matter. God could give us absolutely no free will and force us to follow Him, but there would be little worth in that; everything would be entirely meaningless. We are given the power to chose between two options: follow God, or follow our own fleshly wants and ultimately follow the Enemy. The first path--God's path--requires dedication and discipline. The second path is one of ease, immediate self-gratification, impulsiveness, and other vices. Human nature is inclined to choose the second option, and we rush headlong into our own destruction. We make that choice. Much like Jonah, we find ourselves in a disgusting, slimy chasm (a fish belly of our own making), frustrated and angry at life as well as God. We think back to what we constantly hear quoted, and cry, "Well, God? Where are You? Where are those 'grand plans' that you promised for my future?"
God is a god of second chances. He forgave Jonah's stubbornness, and He forgives ours as well. At our darkest moment, He is there to give us shade and rest, as well as point us to the right direction. But even after all our troubles and through our self-made exhaustion, we look longingly at the other direction and say, "But, God, I want to do that...I want to go that way." Even though our way is wrought with devastation, failure, road blocks, and disappointment, we are too prideful to lay down the ruins of what our own plan was and follow another one. Yet when we do humble ourselves and ask God to lead us where He may, we discover something greater than we had originally planned for our own lives. We finally understand why the path we first chose never worked; we were meant to do something entirely different, something much better suited for who God made us to be.
Sometimes there will be struggling involved as our nature and God's plan clash. Sometimes we are stubborn enough that the only time we are able to submit is when we are broken in the belly of the fish. God has a habit of raising people up from their lowest point, and I know I am not the exception. Perhaps you fit under this category. Perhaps you are more submissive like Paul ended up being, to which I applaud you. I myself am much more like Jonah than I would like to admit. But if God can pick Jonah up from the literal stomach of an enormous fish and set his life straight, He can certainly set you free of your metaphorical one...if you let him. If you do, you may very well look back at your old plans and realize they never would have worked anyway.
