Jonah

“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”” Luke 1:30-33

At the beginning of December Erica wrote a blog post announcing that we are having a boy. In the post she said that during a time of prayer, I heard from the Lord that we were having a boy and what to name him.

The story, in more depth, goes like this:

It was late summer when we were in Wausau, WI for reviveWISCONSIN. Our team was in a meeting with local pastors and we were discussing the idea of having a corporate “hour of silence” where everyone involved with reviveWI would spend one hour per day for a whole week in an hour of silence, just listening to God. If you’re like me, that’s hard. If you’re like the locals in WI, it's hard. So, we decided to practice for a few minutes. 

As soon as we started our practice quiet time, the room fell silent and I began to listen. Almost instantly I heard God saying, clear as day, “You are having a boy and you will name him Jonah.” Whoa. What do you do with that? I had no time to think, no time to wonder what I was going hear. 

As Erica’s describes in her December post, I told her what I heard and she sensed the same thing. When the time came for our 20-week ultrasound we had a decision to make; do we find out the gender of our second child? If we did find out from the ultra-sound, would that mean that we lacked faith in what I heard from God that day in Wisconsin? 

I believe that we all hear from God and, depending on how well we are hearing, we don’t believe that its actually God. Or, we think that we’re not important or spiritual enough that he would talk to US in that way. Not true. The “personal relationship” phrase that you often hear from the pulpit means exactly that - a relationship. Both ways. You and me, me and you. Him and me, me and Him. You and Him, Him and you.

Well, in the days leading up to the ultrasound we discussed it and finally determined that we did not lack faith if we found out. I knew what I heard from God. We decided to find out at the 20-week ultrasound as a testimony to the greatness of God - that he would care about each and every one of His children so much that He desires to have an ongoing conversation with each one of us. 

“You are having a boy…” That was the first part of God’s message to me. Alright! But, the other part of His message was what to name our new baby boy. It can seem trivial that God would have a desire for what to name our child. Why would he care? Luke 12:7 says “Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” He does care about the smallest detail in our lives, including our name.

“…and you will name him Jonah.” The second part of His message on that day. Why did God have us name our child Jonah? I’m not sure. The best we can do is begin to understand Jonah the book, the character, his mission and his historical significance. More on that in a future post.

First a couple of facts: 

• In the Bible, seven people were named by God before they were born: Isaac, Ishmael, Solomon, Josiah, Cyrus, John the Baptist, and Jesus. 
• Jonah comes from the Hebrew name Yonah which means “dove”
• Jonah’s dad was named Amittai who was from a town called Gath-Hepher which is very close to - just north-east of - Nazareth

From these facts I have some observations. First, in scripture, God doesn’t have a long list of people to whom He has given a name before birth. I know of a handful of other parents who have said that God has given them their child’s name. None of these friends have children old enough to see the lasting fruit in their life just yet. 

Second, the meaning of his name is dove which of course, represents the Spirit of God as told in the scriptures when Jesus was baptized. 

Then, his hometown is fairly close to that of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. While this is not a hugely spiritual observation, I do know that geography carries history. Maybe there’s something there. 

Finally, we know the story of Jonah. He was asked to go save Nineveh and didn’t, so God had him captive for three days in the belly of a whale. Then on the third day Jonah emerged from the wale and ultimately saved the city God had intended him to save in the first place. Jonah’s story has some parallels to the Easter story.

What do we do with this information? Well, we are praying about it. But one thing we know for sure; as parents we have the responsibility to learn how God has designed both Nicole and Jonah and help them walk in the calling that God has on their lives. That means educating them, teaching them to love, helping them identify God’s gifting in their life and creating an environment where they can thrive. 

Who knows, maybe Jonah (or Nicole, or her cousins Caleb, Isaac, or Abigail) will grow up to be the person whom God has assigned a city or a nation that He desires to see come to know Him.

I can’t wait to find out. 

Shawn

“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”” Luke 1:30-33