Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Do you see a problem here?—a glaring discrepancy? Let’s go ahead and argue with Jonah, or whoever is authoring this account. We can concede that he prayed to God who IS Sovereign LORD, but God was clearly not technically his personal heart-level fully-devoted-to LORD surrounding this circumstance. If that were fully true, he never would have been running away and deliberately disobeying God in the first place, and find himself in this pickle—or in this fish.

Have you ever faced this kind of duplicity? Of course you have. You may even be able to identify the flaw somewhere in the mirror of your own track record. So here comes another example of someone who has made a royal mess of his life, desperately needs help and rescue from the destructive consequences of his own wrong choices, yet with a straight face assures you that he loves God and believes His Word. I don’t think it is even possible to truly help that person if he remains locked into that self-deceiving mindset. Before any substantial help can be rendered, this corrective premise must be established: NO YOU DON’T LOVE GOD AND BELIEVE HIS WORD. LET’S NOT PLAY GAMES. IF THAT WERE TRUE YOU WOULD NOT BE WHERE YOU ARE! ONCE YOU EMBRACE THIS PRELIMINARY PREMISE, WE CAN GET ON WITH REAL HELP. I’m aware that not everyone would choose this approach toward solution for their predicament, or me for their counselor.

Let’s quickly clarify a technicality: This is not to put forth the idea that those who love God and believe His Word will never have ugly circumstances to cope with for reasons beyond themselves. This principle above applies when one identifies bad choices (disobedience and irresponsibility) as being causes for bad circumstances. If God is TRUE and the principle of sowing and reaping is valid, how is it possible to reap truly good fruit from truly bad choices?

A foundational idea is growing on me—one that can help me live life with a minimal amount of consequence from my own bad choices. I reason, shouldn’t everyone want to embrace such an idea?! The problem is that this idea may be very difficult to understand, may appear very complicated in its practical application, may require failure in order to bring focus, and may be very unpopular. And what is that revolutionary idea? LOVE GOD!—and everyone said, “Duh!” Someone shouts, “Come on, Sparre!—can’t you come up with something better than that?!—something new and dramatic?!—something quick and easy?!” Nope! That’s it! A HEART AFTER GOD has a powerful built-in restrainer from doing dumb stuff—from making bad choices—and has the built-in GPS that guides one into “paths of righteousness” with no bad consequences. Be reminded that the loud message of God’s Word is not to question God with all your heart, or disobey Him with all your heart, or pass judgment on Him with all your heart to see if He’s worthy of your trusting and obeying Him with all your heart. This core idea is so simple and all-encompassing it’s…it’s…well, it’s hard to believe!