Matthew S. Holland · Of the Seventy
1A schoolteacher once taught that a whale—even though large—could not swallow a human because whales have small throats. A girl objected, “But Jonah was swallowed by a whale.” The teacher responded, “That’s impossible.” Still not convinced, the girl said, “Well, when I get to heaven, I will ask him.” The teacher sneered, “What if Jonah was a sinner and didn’t go to heaven?” The girl replied, “Then you can ask him.”
2We laugh, but we should not miss the power Jonah’s story offers every “humble seeker of happiness,” especially those struggling.
3God commanded Jonah to “go to Nineveh” to declare repentance. But Nineveh was ancient Israel’s brutal enemy—so Jonah promptly heads the exact opposite direction, by boat, to Tarshish. As he sails away from his calling, a ship-wrecking storm develops. Certain his disobedience is the cause, Jonah volunteers to be thrown overboard. This calms the raging sea, which saves his shipmates.
4Miraculously, Jonah escapes death when a “great fish” the Lord “prepared” swallows him. But he languishes in that unbelievably dark and putrid place for three days, until he’s finally spit out on dry ground. He then accepts his call to Nineveh. Yet, when the city repents and is spared destruction, Jonah resents the mercy shown his enemies. God patiently teaches Jonah that He loves and seeks to rescue all His children.
5Stumbling more than once in his duties, Jonah provides a vivid testimony that in mortality, “all are fallen.” We don’t often speak of a testimony of the Fall. But having a doctrinal understanding and spiritual witness of why every single one of us struggles with moral, physical, and situational challenges is a great blessing. Here on earth, ugly weeds grow, even strong bones break, and all “come short of the glory of God.” But this mortal condition—a result of choices made by Adam and Eve—is essential to the very reason we exist: “that [we] might have joy”! As our first parents learned, only by tasting the bitterness and feeling the pain of a fallen world could we even conceive of, let alone enjoy, true happiness.
6A testimony of the Fall does not excuse sin or a lax approach in life’s duties, which always call for diligence, virtue, and accountability. But it should temper our frustrations when things just go wrong or we see a moral failing in a family member, friend, or leader. Too often things like this cause us to wallow in contentious criticism or resentment that robs our faith. But a firm testimony of the Fall can help us be more like God as described by Jonah, that is, “merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness” to all—including ourselves—in our unavoidably imperfect state.
7Even greater than manifesting the effects of the Fall, Jonah’s story powerfully directs us to Him who can deliver us from those effects. Jonah’s self-sacrifice to save his shipmates is Christlike indeed. And three times when Jesus is pressed for a miraculous sign of His divinity, He thunders that “there shall no sign be given … but the sign of Jonas [Jonah],” declaring that as Jonah was “three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” As a symbol of the Savior’s sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection, Jonah may be flawed. But this is also what makes his personal witness of and commitment to Jesus Christ, offered in the belly of the whale, so poignant and inspiring.
8Jonah’s cry is that of a good man in crisis, one largely of his own making. For a saint, when catastrophe is brought on by a regrettable habit, comment, or decision, despite so many other good intentions and earnest efforts of righteousness, it can be especially crushing and leave one feeling forsaken. But whatever the cause or degree of disaster we face, there is always dry ground for hope, healing, and happiness. Listen to Jonah:
9“I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord … ; out of the belly of hell cried I. …
10“For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; …
11“[And] I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
12“The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
13“I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; … yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption. …
14“When my soul fainted … I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came … into thine holy temple.
15“They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
16“But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”
17Though it was many years ago, I can tell you exactly where I was sitting and exactly what I was feeling when, deep in the belly of a personal hell, I discovered this scripture. For anyone today feeling like I did then—that you are cast off, sinking in deepest waters, with seaweed wrapped about your head and oceanic mountains crashing all around you—my plea, inspired by Jonah, is forsake not your own mercy. You have immediate access to divine help and healing despite your human flaws. This awe-inspiring mercy comes in and through Jesus Christ. Because He knows and loves you perfectly, He offers it to you as your “own,” meaning it is perfectly suited to you, designed to relieve your individual agonies and heal your particular pains. So, for heaven’s sake and yours, do not turn your back on that. Accept it. Start by refusing to listen to the “lying vanities” of the adversary, who would tempt you into thinking that relief is found in sailing away from your spiritual responsibilities. Instead, follow the lead of the repentant Jonah. Cry unto God. Turn to the temple. Cling to your covenants. Serve the Lord, His Church, and others with sacrifice and thanksgiving.
18Doing these things brings a vision of God’s special covenantal love for you—what the Hebrew Bible calls hesed. You will see and feel the power of God’s loyal, untiring, inexhaustible, and “tender mercies” that can make you “mighty … unto … deliverance” from any sin or any setback. Early and intense anguish may cloud that vision at first. But as you continue to “pay that that [you] have vowed,” such a vision will shine brighter and brighter in your soul. And with that vision you will not only find hope and healing, but, astonishingly, you will find joy, even in the midst of your crucible. President Russell M. Nelson taught us so very well: “When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation … and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him.”
19Whether we are facing a deep, Jonah-like catastrophe or the everyday challenges of our imperfect world, the invitation is the same: Forsake not your own mercy. Look to the sign of Jonah, the living Christ, He who rose from His three-day grave having conquered all—for you. Turn to Him. Believe in Him. Serve Him. Smile. For in Him, and Him alone, is found the full and happy healing from the Fall, healing we all so urgently need and humbly seek. I testify this is true. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.