Years ago when I worked at a music store, a young kid came in who looked like he was on the edge of being homeless. He picked up a used Les Paul Custom that was selling for $800. and played it for a while, said thanks, put it back and headed for the door. I didn’t think to pursue things with him because I figured he couldn’t afford it. But before he left, the owner of the store asked if he wanted to buy the guitar. He told the owner, yeah, but didn’t have enough money (as I thought). The owner then asked him how much he had. I was shocked when he said he only had $750 bucks. The owner said that he would be willing to sell the guitar to him for that price and then the kid proceeded to pull hundred dollar bills out of each of his pockets, a couple hundred from the front left, three more from the right and a few bills from the back and before my very eyes there lay $750 dollars on the counter.
I didn’t expect that.
Chapter 3 of Jonah is also not what you might expect; Jonah walks through that great city of Nineveh (a 3 day trek) with a simple and clear warning of God’s judgment and an entire city of people, who are thought to be far from God, unexpectedly change their hearts. Even the king puts aside his royal robe, comes down from his throne and bows down in the dirt with the rest of the people asking God for mercy.
Imagine how easy it would have been for the king of Nineveh not to join the rest of the people. We all seem to have a tendency to see ourselves above circumstances. That is why we are so offended by some things we see in others, such as gossip, but are blind to acknowledge it in ourselves. How much more if we were actually king?
For change to take place in our lives, we need to be more like the king of Nineveh, willing to step down from our throne that says I am above, put off the robe that says it doesn’t apply to me and in the dirt of humanity admit we need help.
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