Say Yes Even When No is Easier

Think of a time when you said yes when you really wanted to say no. Or maybe you said “no” to someone or something when the best thing to do would have been “yes.” After a long week at work, you want to come home and prop your feet up. But a neighbor invites you to a cookout. You really want to chill at home, but they’ve asked you several times before and you turned them down. You don’t want to send the wrong message, so you say yes when you really want to say no. Your coworkers frequently gossip about the new hire. You know what they are saying is both mean and not true. But, to stay popular in the office, you remain quiet. Instead of saying “yes” to squelching the gossip, you say no(thing).   

We regularly push back against doing or saying certain things because we don’t particularly like the probable outcome. It is also true that we sometimes push back on what God is asking us to do because we do not like what that outcome might be. The story of Jonah is one such instance. God asked Jonah to visit the wicked Ninevites, who were a constant threat to the Jews. The opening two verses found in the Old Testament book of Jonah read like this – “The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittal saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me’” (Jonah 1:1-2).

Jonah despised the Ninevites and did not want to go. He really wanted them destroyed (4:2). If Jonah visited them and they repented of their wicked ways, what if merciful God showed favor to the Ninevites. So, instead of heading to Nineveh as the LORD asked, Jonah headed in the opposite direction, to Tarshish – “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” (1:3). Jonah said no when he really should have yes.

You know the story. On the way to Tarshish, Jonah’s boat encountered a great storm, one that his shipmates blamed on him (vv.1:4-15). Jonah got tossed overboard and was swallowed up by a great fish – “And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights” (1:16-17).

While in the belly of this great fish, Jonah has a change of heart. He agrees to go to Nineveh (Chapter 2). The fish vomits him up. Jonah says yes (probably reluctantly) when he likely really wanted to say no once again. Chapter 3 of the book of Jonah tells us that the Ninevites did repent, causing God to hold back the calamity which he had declared he would bring on them. This displeased Jonah. Chapter 4 is God rebuking Jonah for his disobedience displeasure.

Even though Jonah did eventually say yes to God, he did so with a reluctant heart. God is not interested in hard reluctant hearts. He is wanting us to have soft obedient hearts; a desire to not just say “yes,” but a yes that comes from our longing to serve and obey. Not simply yes out of duty or obligation. Sometimes God desires us to say “no” to what the our selfish desires say, or world says to us, which by default is saying “yes” to Him.

Say yes to God and leave the results up to Him. What are you right now saying no to that you should be saying yes to? What do you need to say yes to even if no is easier?   

Note from Dave: Last year I wrote about Jonah using a slightly different backdrop. In that writing I also answered why I believe this “fish story” to be true and not simply allegory or myth. Click here to read that post.    

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