Honesty activates God
- Ayodeji Fola-Owolabi
- Feb 25, 2024
- 2 min read
The story of Jonah in the Bible speaks to a lot of things. It depicts the ressuretion, which Jesus himself mentions. It reveals God's command over nature when a whale swallowed Jonah and then spits him out. It also speaks about honesty.
Having experienced the bottom of the ocean, in the stomach of a whale, Jonah's heart is refined like gold tested in a furnace. He's seen God firsthand in a different way and has no basis for doubt. Although the campaign to Nineveh is extremely successful, Jonah is pissed and vents his feelings plainly.
He yelled at God, "God! I knew it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That's why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness. "
Jonah was honest with God, and it affected the immediate manifestation of God in his life. With everything we are responsible for in this modern world, it's reasonable to consider God distant. Honesty draws him near. The first building block of a deeper friendship with God is complete honesty about our faults and feelings.
Jonah isn't the only one. Many were honest about their feelings, often complaining, second-guessing, accusing, and arguing with their Creator. God, however, didn’t seem to be bothered by this frankness; in fact, he encouraged it. In Jonah's example, it seems God is trying to explain himself to Jonah. Honesty did that.
Why is honesty so important? Because it catches bitterness quickly and any other issue that may creep up in our relationship with God.
Bitterness is the greatest barrier to friendship with God: Why would I want to be God’s friend if he allowed this? The antidote, of course, is to realize that God always acts in your best interest, even when it is painful and you don’t understand it.
When we don't deal with Bitterness, we develop thoughts, imaginations, and ideologies that erect barriers against God. Worship becomes routine, and God seems distant. That's because there's an issue somewhere. Honesty is always a sure way to begin or restore a friendship with God.
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