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Jonah or Balaam?

by Greg VanFossen

In the course of this adventure with God, others on the path ahead of us (those who are presently in the foreign mission field) have related that their search for sponsors seemed to have taken forever.  We are getting into a phase where we can empathize. Questions about moving forward have started to emerge: How long is this really going to take?  How much does the recession affect what we are trying to accomplish?  What is reasonable to expect?

	Greg traveling by boat in Guyana.

   A short time before we moved from Banning, California, another church member expressed his regret of our family leaving.  He then stated that he wouldn’t want me to be a Jonah.  I suppose he could have as easily said he didn’t want me to be a Balaam.

   The stories of Jonah and Balaam afford me examples of how God has worked with individuals who didn’t (or didn’t want to) hear His voice.  Jonah received a call from God. Balaam received a call from the Devil.  Jonah was a prophet of God.  Balaam wanted profit.  Jonah was supposed to go to Nineveh.  Balaam was supposed to stay home.  Jonah went the wrong direction.  Balaam went.  Jonah was concerned about his reputation.  Balaam was consumed by greed. Jonah encountered a storm while going the wrong way and got a ride in a fish.  Balaam encountered an angel with a sword.  When Jonah encountered the storm his conscience appealed to his reason.  When Balaam’s transportation didn’t cooperate and then spoke to him his insanity became blatantly obvious—he was so absorbed in his mission he didn’t seem to realize he was having a conversation with a donkey—which is a comical display of what God is willing to do to meet us where we are. It appears that Jonah was concerned more about his reputation as a prophet than he was about the whole city of Nineveh.  Balaam was more interested in wealth than the welfare of a whole nation. These misplaced priorities boil down to pride and the love of money—“the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.”

   How do I avoid repeating the experiences of these two men?  I can pursue a better life here by seeking ownership of better things.  I can avoid embarrassment by not putting myself in a situation where I might fail or, perhaps, be the target of criticism.  Apathy toward spreading the Good News is definitely a more comfortable approach and does not have the risk of failure.  If I stay in my little corner of the world and don’t do anything out of my comfort zone, then life will be easier.  Or will it? 

   The stories of Jonah and Balaam help me realize at least one thing; if I’m not doing what God wants me to do, He has overt ways of letting me know it.  But what if nothing seems to be happening?  No storm?  No angel with a drawn sword? No action? No progress? What then? Is it just a waiting game? Am I not hearing God’s directives?  Certainly there are some. 

   The fish-god “Dagon” was a prevailing “god” in the areas about Nineveh.  Jonah’s arrival and delivery via a fish was no doubt an attention-getter.  This also demonstrates that God is willing to use whatever seems to have our attention to refocus our trust in Him—in a dramatic way if necessary. 

   It is easy to fixate on the financial aspects of this project to the extent that they seem to control the process. This can occur due to an anxious mindset consisting of impatience, insecurity or a combination thereof, which will narrow the mind’s perceptual field.  With that narrow view, God’s perspective won’t be fully appreciated, and discouragement will set in and give our adversary a foothold. 

   The focus of this project needs to be on God’s perspective; the monetary status is merely a measure of something.  Whatever that something is, it is not the controlling agent. God is the controlling agent, with funding being the mechanism used for letting me know when to proceed to the next phase of activity.

   So when someone asks me when we are going to move to Guyana, I have to respond by saying that the Holy Spirit will decide, but the funding is the measuring stick.