God's Not a Yelp Critic

We had no idea where to eat when we first moved to this area. It became routine to grab our phones, open the Yelp app, and browse the local offerings. To avoid the one-star restaurants, we set our filters to only show those with four or five stars. I don’t know about you, but I tend to run the other way when a restaurant has one star. It signals that something is wrong…perhaps the food isn’t good, the eating area is not clean, or the customer service lacking. Whatever the reason, Yelp reviewers recommend running the other way. 

This past Sunday we spent time studying Jonah 1:17-2:10. In this passage of Scripture, we see Jonah at his rock bottom, swallowed into “the belly of a fish for three days and nights” (Jonah 1:17). If we were to give Jonah a rating, I’m not sure that he would even get a half star. Yet, God looks at Jonah in this low point in his life and instead of running the other way, saves him from death. 

There’s a lot of truth here. 

You will not see God running the other way because of a bad rating. Instead, just like we see in Jonah, God looks at humanity through His goodness and takes people who are half stars and purses them, saves them, and brings them into His family. Why? Salvation is not based on your merit. It’s not about your goodness or wretchedness. Salvation is about the good and loving God we serve. The God who brings sinners into the fold for His Glory.  

No one will ever get it together on this side of eternity. In moments of brokenness, hopelessness, and shame…when you feel like a half star…hear God say, “Come to me,” and be willing to humbly accept the grace being offered to you. 

The truth is that God will never run. He won’t even leave a bad review. Instead, He offers more grace than you could ever imagine. He loves you and desires to pull you from the rock bottom. 

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

- Hebrews 13:5

*This post comes from material in week four of our series on the book of Jonah. You can listen to the entire message here.