Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and He answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice.” – Jonah 2:1-2
If you were paying attention to national news last week, you would have noticed that a gunman fired into a Catholic worship service in south Minneapolis, killing two children and wounding 21 people. (The previous day on the other side of town, in an apparently unrelated event outside a Catholic high school, an unidentified gunman shot one person dead and wounded six others.) In the aftermath of these shootings, a number of politicians and commentators ridiculed the “thoughts and prayers” offered for the families and community as a waste of time.
Here are some direct quotes: “Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.” (Jen Psaki, Biden’s previous Press Secretary); “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying.” (Jacob Frey, Democrat Mayor of Minneapolis); “I want to bring theology into this because you have all these people who want to give thoughts and prayers after a shooting, but I was a minister and that is a form of theological malpractice.” (Justin Jones, Tennessee Democrat State Representative).
I suppose that someone will want to argue that these voices were attempting to highlight that society needs action (in the form of legislation and enforcement) to prevent children from becoming victims of gun violence. This perspective ignores several key points: 1) God calls us to pray in times of sorrow, bringing comfort to survivors – and therefore cannot be theological malpractice, 2) God makes it clear in His Word that He answers prayer – so praying cannot be theological malpractice, and 3) Prayer and action are not mutually exclusive – we can both pray and seek to prevent further malfeasance, so active prayer is not theological malpractice.
It should be noted that the public figures who mocked and rejected prayer are all representatives of a particular political party. As a pastor, I am not prone to supporting one political party over another, but I want to make it clear that today’s political climate has taken a decided turn towards rejecting biblical principles and dividing our nation theologically along party lines. One can hold to Christian doctrine while being either a registered Democrat or Republican. However, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the political voices of the left are publicly seeking to squelch Christian practices and values. With this in mind, I ask, “Is your chosen party honoring God?” If not, what are you doing about it? Are you praying? Are you taking action? Or, are you hiding in the shade as those around you – in either party – rebel against the Creator?
God called Jonah to go east to the enemies in Nineveh and preach repentance. Instead, Jonah chose to run in the opposite direction. He boarded a ship heading west. A massive storm threatened to capsize the vessel, so Jonah was tossed overboard. Swallowed by a big fish and facing death, Jonah finally turned to God in prayer for salvation. God answered his prayer: Jonah was vomited onto dry land. He is safe. Now what?
Jonah’s story takes a funny turn. He went to Nineveh, preached doom, and, lo and behold, his avowed enemies, the Ninevites, repented! “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry” (Jonah 4:1). He prayed again, telling God, “I told you so”, complaining that the salvation of the sinful Ninevites was not what he had in mind. Jonah sulked off and hid in the shade, waiting to see what would happen next. God took away his shade, condemning Jonah’s partisan politics, saying, “Should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:1). If you know the salvation of sinners, purchased by Jesus Christ, then stop running, stop hiding, obey God, and pray for your enemies. May your thoughts and prayers be with those who suffer. May you see that God calls you to make His steadfast love known to all – in both parties.
