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The Jonah Syndrome:
Hoping
They Don’t Repent |
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by Douglas
C. Schmidt, published by Cook Communications Ministries.
Probably the biggest reason people choose not to explore
the process of forgiveness is something we’ll call
The Jonah Syndrome. As you may recall from the story of
Jonah, the reluctant prophet ran in the opposite direction
when he was told by God to offer repentance to one of
the fiercest superpowers the world has ever known —
The Assyrians, specifically the inhabitants of the capital
of the empire, Ninevah.
Sometimes, when a city was about to come under siege by
the Assyrians, the citizens would simply kill each other
rather than face the vicious, blood-curdling torture of
the these particular warriors. These mercenaries implemented
methods of anguish that would maximize and draw out a
person’s pain experience without actually killing
him. When the Assyrians captured their enemies, especially
rival kings, they gouged their eyes out, and/or cut off
hands and feet, and/or staked them to the desert floor
and skinned them alive — or, barring all this, slowly
boiled or roasted them over a period of days.
No wonder Jonah was reluctant to pay these folks a visit.
. . .
The maintenance energy for withholding forgiveness is
enormous. We might discreetly keep our ears open for bad
news about these people so we can do a little fist-pumping
as we rejoice in their misfortune, But, if we’re
in this state, hearing about their good fortune only plunges
us into greater despair. We might spend an inordinate
amount of time sitting around and ruminating on what a
certain person did to us. The evil act might find it’s
way into conversations that have nothing to do with the
person we’re talking to or the topic at hand. And,
at the very worst, the harm we want to do to the offender,
and can’t, gets projected on to those who really
do care about us. So our other relationships suffer because
we can’t find the ability to forgive. . . .
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 It’s
not healthy to talk about forgiveness as merely
“the emotional release” of the debt that the
people have created in our lives. Instead, it is better
to describe forgiveness as the “transfer”
of that debt from our account to God’s. Forgiveness
includes the acknowledgement that we are powerless to
collect on certain debts, and that we must trust God to
balance the books. This is what God means when He promises
“I will repay.” (Deut. 32:35; Jer. 16:18;
25:14; 51:24; Ezek. 7:9; Joel 2:25; Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30;
Rev. 2:23 — Note, that in some of these passages,
God’s repayment plan also includes compensation
to the victims.)
OUR WILLINGNESS TO FORGIVE SOMEONE does
not need to be based on the prospect that our forgiveness
will finally end the matter in God’s eyes. Perhaps
our involvement with that person will come to an end.
Perhaps we will choose to stay in a relationship with
that person, for a variety of legitimate reasons. But
in these cases, we understand that our level of vulnerability
with the person may never be deeper than “maintenance
mode.” But just because we have forgiven someone,
doesn’t mean that God is finished with that person.
That is what Paul means when he implores offended believers
— those who have taken all the appropriate steps
concerning human justice — to step aside and “leave
room for the wrath of God.” (Rom. 12:19). . . .
Because God is just, and we reflect this part of His essence
in our own limited reflection of his emotional essence,
we are left with a sense of unsettledness and discomfort
whenever we witness or experience injustice. There is
something inside of us that says “this needs to
be made right — these actions cannot go unanswered
— the person who has committed these evil deeds
needs to be held accountable.”
And God is saying the same thing.
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Excerpted from The
Prayer of Revenge: Forgiveness in the Face of Injustice
by Douglas C. Schmidt, published by Cook Communications
Ministries. For more information, visit www.dougschmidt.com
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Scripture
taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright
© 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All
rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission
of International Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered
trademarks of International Bible Society. Use of either
trademark for the offering of goods or services requires
the prior written consent of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy
Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used
by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton,
IL 60189, USA. All rights reserved.
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Self-help books suggest that
people should look within, at their own desires and
dreams, but Rick Warren says the starting place
must be with God and his eternal purposes for each life.
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