How Do You Catch a Monkey?
Pay close attention to the following passages taking note of any recurring theme: Jonah 4:2 O Lord, is not this just what I said when I was still in my country? Jonah 4:3 Therefore now, O Lord, I beseech You, take my life from me,…Jonah 4:5 …he made a booth there for himself…..Jonah 4:8 …It is better for me to die than to live….Jonah 4:9 And he said, I do well to be angry.
In these passages of Scripture who is the center of Jonah’s world? My country, My life, booth for Himself, better for Me, and I do well?! Jonah is the center, not God.
Years ago the Lord was leading me to surrender all of my excuses at His feet – yielding to Him as my Lord. He led me to kneel before Him, and pray aloud in the secrecy of my bedroom. I got down on my knees but I refused to pray aloud. After several minutes I gave up taking a seat at the edge of my bed. In the midst of my battle of final surrender this thought came into my mind: Robert Who owns everything? I reasoned, God owns everything. When I die I am taking nothing with me. I responded to the question: God owns everything! In an instant the next thought was: Get down on your knees and give Me what already belongs to Me. And I did. Guess what? The surrender doesn’t begin and end at one place in time. As long as you exist in time the surrendering continues. I chuckle when people get all worked up over thinking, and declaring with ardent zeal things like: It’s my house, my car, my job, my kids, my life, my time. No. They really are not. You are just marking time borrowing some things while you are occupied with the distractions of life.
Crazy question: How do you catch a monkey? You put a banana in a pot with an opening just big enough for the monkey to put his fist through. Chain the pot to a tree and watch what happens next. The monkey thrusts his hand into the jar, and grabs the banana. But now he has a problem. His fist, tightly clenching the banana, will not fit through the opening in the jar. The only way he can free himself is to let go of the coveted prize of the banana.
What have you been clinging too tightly to? What person(s), or possession(s) have you been gripping too tightly? Have you become confused about Who gave you the strength, and blessings to have those things? Have you become confused over Who all these things belong too? Do you need to surrender them to Him anew? Who or what owns you?
