Fish story and fish tale: idioms for “an improbable, boastful exaggeration.”
At first glance, the greatest fish story ever told, seems to fit that description. Not the one about Moby Dick, nor those most excellent fish tales of the great catch that almost sank a boat or a few fish that fed thousands. I’m referring to the one that is a whale of a tale, though probably not actually about a whale. I’m referring to
Jonah’s fish story.
Jonah was the first book of the Bible that I ever memorized. Not a great boast, since I’ve only memorized two of the 66 books so far, but nonetheless, my first and my favorite. I love this story, this very true story. Jesus paralleled Jonah’s three days in the great fish with his own three days in the grave, verifying and validating the truth of this amazing bit of biblical history.
Why do I love this story? Because it’s the story of us. Runners, that’s what we are. Runners who run away from God, then run to God, then run away from God, then run to God; rinse and repeat. But more than that, it’s the story of God. Pursuer, that’s what he is. The Great Pursuer who pursued Jonah, pursued a ship full of sailors, and pursued a great city full of runners.
This story starts with God clearly telling Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their wickedness had come to his attention. How had it come to his attention? Was it just the stench of evil rising? Or were there those inside that city, running to God, crying out for his intervention? We’re not told if that was the case, but we are told that Jonah, a prophet who had obviously lived a life of running to God, suddenly ran in the opposite direction. He had good reason to run, but I’ll leave that to you to pursue, if you dare.
What I love most is the middle of the story, when Jonah has been swallowed, at God’s command, by this “huge fish.”
From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. Jonah 2:1
Though Jonah had run, he still recognized… the LORD… as… his God. Just think about that for a moment. I didn’t have to practice memorizing this very long, before I was struck by Jonah’s level of closeness to “his God,” despite his sprint in the opposite direction. He faces the fact that his God had hurled him into the depths of the sea, had caused the waves to “break over me,” and wouldn’t just let Jonah be. To the roots of the mountains, Jonah sank down, but still he proclaims, “But you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit.” Before his salvation from this situation, Jonah emphatically states, “yet I will look again toward your holy temple.” His hope was his reality from within the dark depths.
Then he makes this phenomenal statement (the old NIV 1984 version is by far my favorite):
Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Jonah 2:8
Forfeit the grace that could be theirs!
Jonah’s life is ebbing away in the depths, yet he is still connected to “his God” and realizing the amazing grace that he has not forfeited. The rest of his fish story, about a reluctant runner who delivers God’s message to a city full of runners, who turn and then run after this all-pursuing God… is a blog for another day.
As for this blog, this day, I leave you with this:
In all our running, if we will run to our God, run to his grace… we can finish this race.
2 Timothy 4:7