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| Credit: http://christianpost.com |
The story of the prophet Jonah is the ultimate big fish story. When Jonah ran away from God, the Almighty stormed after him and engulfed him in the belly of the fish. We see it happen all the time, where people run away from those who love them the most. We see it with the teenage girl who rejects her mother's wisdom and gets into trouble while hanging out with the wrong people. There is the young man who is afraid of commitment because he is afraid of losing his prized freedom. But that is only half of the story. The other half is the story of the mother who cares lovingly and patiently for her daughter. There is the girlfriend or fiancee who shows her beau the true purpose of freedom – how only love can satisfy the human heart. There are many other stories like these – fathers who seek their sons, friends who continue to make themselves available for others, spouses who give it all for the sake of their marriages.
In the same way, God seeks us. And he does it with an unimaginable effort. The human heart is created to be generous, but due to original sin, it is not generous enough to give it all up and be satisfied with the love of God. We desire other things besides God, without recognizing that God has given us everything that we may find him in all things. But we desire other things in and of themselves. The human heart fears the love of God which demands sacrifice, and it sacrifices God instead. God is not satisfied with this, for he is a jealous God. God will have no other love in his place. God will seek us. And he will make an unimaginable effort to do so.
