Finding the Root

I grew up in a home that was a fan of John Wayne (JW).  I don’t recall a single movie that “was out of bounds” to watch with JW.  I remember going to the drive in and having to close our eyes during the previews of other movies but not with JW.  The one movie I remember from the drive in was “McLintock”.  The movie was a western comedy, which was released in 1963.  True to his form, JW was “loud and proud” in his performance.  This movie’s copyright was not guarded and became public domain about 1991 as a result often telecasted.  Our “smart” tv plays the movie frequently and I was intrigued by a line I heard recently while watching the movie. In addressing his movie wife, Maureen O’Hara MH, JW says to her “you women are always raising h__ about one thing when it’s something else you’re really sore about”.  Who knows how many times I have seen that particular scene but never gave it another thought until now.
 
I have to agree with JW’s line.  So many times, what presents, with our demeanor, tone, words, and actions are really a “smoke screen” to what is really bothering us.  We initiate the “silent treatment”, avoidance and short responses as evidence that something is wrong in our heart and mind but when asked we dismiss the actions, as “oh nothing is wrong”.  I don’t know who, we think we are fooling, our husband, God or even ourselves. I would suggest there is a root cause to our outward responses that don’t match up to “oh nothing is wrong”.
 
I would venture to say that the story of Jonah is an all time favorite of most “churched” children.  I certainly have mentioned the story in a previous blog but let’s look at it again with maybe a different “filter” or “lens”.  In Jonah 1 it opens with  (NIV) “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” There is no doubt that Jonah received the instruction but refused to accept the assignment.  We see immediately Jonah in action.  Instead of “fight”, Jonah took “flight”. He ran away from the Lord boarding a ship going in the complete opposite direction than Nineveh. God had not merely suggested to Jonah to go to Nineveh but commanded him to go. God pursued Jonah because God had a purpose to be fulfilled in the lives of the people of Nineveh.  Jonah, chapter 1, details how Jonah was tossed over board by the sailors to calm a storm and gobbled up by a large fish that God sent.  Up to this point in the story, most of us would classify Jonah’s presenting problem as disobedience to the command of the Lord. I would agree but let’s continue into this book of Jonah.
 
Chapter 2:1-10 opens with Jonah praying.  His problem has brought him to communicate with God.  From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.  He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.  You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.       I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; toward your holy temple.’  The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.  To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.  “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.  “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.  But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.”  And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. 
 
Jonah voices a powerful prayer to God and exposed that he had previously vowed to God. Jonah has a change of mind and goes to proclaim the message that the Lord had given him to the people of Nineveh. In Jonah 3:10, the result was “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” These results of a change in the heart of people and their return to God would be what any Sunday morning preacher would be shouting Hallelujah. But it was not so with Jonah.  Now we deep dive into the root of his problem. 
Jonah 4:1-4, But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.  He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”  But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”  Jonah is in a full pity party, sitting by himself in the heat.  God grows a plant to shade him, provided a worm to eat the plant, which withered the plant, sent extreme wind and heat so much so Jonah wanted to die.  God has the final words in verses 10-11; But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
 
What would you say “really” is the problem with Jonah?  What is the very root of his anger?  Jonah did not want the people to have opportunity to repent because Jonah knew God was gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love. Jonah was angry, that the people has an opportunity to repent and could it be that he was also angry at God for his compassion and love for the people?
 
I think many times we have just “surface” problems like Jonah’s disobedience but there is a deeper root problem and I would even go so far to say it might be anger.  We are angry that our expectations were not met, we were not valued or respected by someone or God disappointed us and the list goes on of the violations we feel.   I would even go so far as to say, with anger we attach a face to it.  Maybe not the correct face, which would be displaced anger, but there is usually a human face we see as the culprit or cause of our anger. 
 
I do believe that sometimes we don’t really know what the root is of us being out of sorts.  Next time you find yourself falling into giving the silent treatment, avoiding people, expressing curt or short responses and lack the joy of the Lord, go before the Lord and ask Him to work Psalm 139:23-24 in your heart: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me.
 
We need to deal with the root of our problems because our heart is affected. Remember Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”.
 
JW got to the root of the issues with his movie wife, MH.  Later in the movie at the high point of “shenanigans”, JW says to MH, “You are going to tell me why you packed up, picked up and walked out on me 2 years ago”.  MH response “You came home from Denver with lipstick all over” at which point MH falls out of the window. She was angry and suspicious of JW’s behavior. This is a great example of the lack of communicating with each other about what is truly bothering us but having surface responses something is wrong. An additional comment on this movie is that while it was a western comedy, JW, at the root of motivations wanted to express his political position, which was in opposition of what was historically happening in the US.
 
 How do we respond? Communicate with God first, sorting things out and getting our heart cleaned up.  We may have to make amends to those who have been the “faces” of our anger.
 
Blessings,
Karen