An Effectual Struggle

My wonderful mother-in-law, Tamara Francis, a regulator contributor to this website, recently highlighted a term from Mosiah 7:18 that I had never noticed before, and I felt that it reflected the internal battle that many of us might be currently experiencing. “O ye, my people, lift up your heads and be comforted; for behold, the time is at hand, or is not far distant, when we shall no longer be in subjection to our enemies, notwithstanding our many strugglings, which have been in vain; yet I trust there  remaineth  an effectual struggle to be made.” I have felt myself in an effectual struggle recently as I have been navigating some big questions about the nature of God, how to be in relationship with others who hurt me, and how I view myself as I work through these questions. I like the term effectual struggle because it implies a meaning and purpose behind the struggle and that it is productive, helping us progress and move forward. As I have been reaching out to God for help over the past months, I felt touched and deeply seen in my study of Jonah in the Old Testament. I felt that his story should be my focus, as we all work through effectual struggles.

Before getting into the story, I think knowing some of the historical context surrounding Jonah’s story was helpful in setting the foundation for his experience. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, a people with a brutal and violent reputation that struck terror into the hearts of the Near Eastern world. This colony of the Assyrian empire held the 10 tribes of Israel captive, and Jonah had become a prophet to try to take this empire down, maybe inspired by people like Elijah, who heroically challenged the prophets of Baal. While the 4 chapters of Jonah don’t tell us a lot about his internal mental and emotional state, I hope you will forgive me conjecting a bit about the feelings that came up for me in imagining myself in Jonah’s position.

I could imagine that Jonah might have felt anger, rage, and injustice towards the Assyrians, especially if he was exposed to some of the brutality that the Assyrians were known for. Maybe he saw loved ones, neighbors, or family members personally assaulted or killed by the empire. I wonder if he felt frustrated with some of the people around him who weren’t fighting against the empire like he was, and who maybe were just trying to ignore or avoid what was happening. I could understand if he even felt helpless or powerless at times, and maybe felt frustrated with his inability to take down this empire and free the captives. And I think I could understand if he felt angry with God and wondered, “Where are you and why are you not intervening? Why are you allowing such awful things to happen?” I think we could all agree that Jonah was probably having a torrent of emotions during this time. And then, as God often does, He surprises Jonah by asking him to go and preach repentance to the very empire that he was trying to take down. And not only does God ask him to go preach to the Ninevites, but God also tells Jonah that if the people repent, He will also forgive them and He will save them. I could imagine that Jonah might have had some mixed feelings about this.

First, the Assyrians were brutal. Fear seems to be an appropriate response for Jonah in this situation. But I also wonder whether all the feelings Jonah might have had about God, himself, and the people around him bubbled to the surface when God made this request of him. But instead of grappling with those questions with God at that moment, he does what I find most relatable - Jonah runs. And he not only runs, but he runs and then takes a boat towards Tarshish, which geographically is about the farthest point you could get from Nineveh.

I think I can really relate to Jonah’s response as a fellow avoider. I spent many years of my life hiding, distracting, turning away, or ignoring discomfort, and I still can find myself running at times against my better judgment. Instead of asking the hard questions, feeling the difficult feelings, and facing what felt scary to face, I learned to run away. Maybe some of you can relate. Just like God’s request of Jonah is surprising to our human minds, Jonah’s human response of fleeing is equally unsurprising because survival and avoiding discomfort are so embedded in our human brains. What I love so much about Jonah’s story is how God responds to Jonah’s avoidance and fear. In the recent conference talk, “Forsake Not Your Own Mercy,” Elder Matthew Holland said, “Jonah’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.”

Jonah and the people on the ship to Tarshish interpret the storm as God's punishment of Jonah, because this makes sense to their mortal minds. But this is not the nature of a loving parent. God does not chastise Jonah for running away but rather sends a big fish to swallow him whole and save him from the torrential storm he was trapped in due to his choice to run away. God provides the dry ground, or rather, the humid and wet ground in the whale’s stomach, for Jonah to sit, ponder, and face what he needed to face, and then causes the whale to spit Jonah out onto dry land, essentially saving his life.

The Bible Storybook: The Old Testament by Josh and Sarah Sabey narrates the next part of Jonah’s story so beautifully, so I wanted to share their words: “When Jonah woke up (after being spit out by the fish), he knew exactly what he needed to do. God had come for Jonah not to punish him, but to save him, and to put him to work. And Jonah knew he didn’t deserve it. And if he didn’t deserve it, neither did the Assyrians. God was not saving them because they were good or because they hadn’t done bad things. They had done terrible things. But he was still saving them. He was saving them for the same reason that He saved Jonah, because they were His and because they were in trouble. They were lost in the middle of the ocean, and He wouldn’t just abandon them. And while Jonah didn’t understand it, he found the strength to try.”

If this was a fairytale, it might end at this point with Jonah finally choosing to obey God’s command and then saving the people of Nineva with his incredible teaching and everything being tied up with a bow and a happily ever after. But Jonah has more effectual struggling to go through. While Jonah obeyed God’s request of him and went and preached to the Assyrians with everything he had, there was a part of Jonah that didn’t believe they would repent, and a part of him that didn’t want them to be forgiven and saved even if they did repent. After finishing his task, Jonah went to the top of a hill overlooking the city to watch and to rest. I will quote the Sabey’s words again here: “God grew a small bush to give Jonah shade, and when Jonah woke, he sat in the shade and watched his dream fall apart. The Assyrians were repenting. Was it possible they were not going to kill or torture anymore and God was going to bless them for their decision to be good? He had toppled the empire from within, but Jonah didn’t see the miracle. He felt no joy or accomplishment. The bush covering Jonah withered and died and he was left in harsh sunlight. So he yelled, how could you? How dare you take that shade from me? But God knew Jonah was saying a lot more that that. He wasn’t really talking about a bush. He was asking some really big, hard to answer questions like how could you forgive them after what they have done to my people? If you were going to save them, why did it have to be through me? And Jonah wept, not understanding.”

God does not shame or berate Jonah in his anger and frustration and confusion—He walks with him through it. He teaches Jonah, using the withered bush as an analogy, to see the expansive nature of God’s love for all His children and his desire to save them all. This is the message I hope to share today, as it has been the one I have most needed—God does not need us to have it all figured out before we can come to Him. He wants to be part of our effectual struggle and is patient enough, kind enough, and strong enough to be the grounding force that we can rely on when everything is falling apart. I realized that the reason I have run from things in my life has nothing to do with my worth or my lack of belief in God and everything to do with my fear of bringing all of myself to God. Our Savior doesn’t ask us to be perfect—He asks us to be whole, meaning that he wants us to bring all of ourselves to Him. He doesn’t ask us to only bring the “good parts,” he asks us to bring the broken parts of our hearts and minds to Him—the questions, the sins, the complicated emotions, the anger, the inability to forgive—He wants all of us.

And because of his suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross, he can help us put the pieces back together and see the expanse and depth of his love for us which might be difficult for our human minds to comprehend. A Christian author, Timothy Keller, said it best, “To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God.” I hope that all of us can run towards our loving Heavenly Parents in our brokenness, and also hope that we can each walk with each other through our effectual struggles.

Chelsea Bryson Francis is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Certified Emotionally Focused Therapist (EFT) working with individuals, couples, and families at Therapy with Heart in Scottsdale, Arizona, to create more secure and meaningful relationships in their lives. She graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She absolutely loves spending time with her husband of 16 years, Brad, and with their three daughters. Chelsea enjoys teaching the women in her religious community each month and feels passionate about providing a safe environment to explore cultural roadblocks and barriers that interfere with their ability to connect with God.