Nowhere Man

“He's a real nowhere man. Sitting in his nowhere land. Making all his nowhere plans for nobody”. 

Those are the opening lyrics to the song, “Nowhere Man”, sung by John Lennon and the Beatles.

Look at what is being described. That’s not depression. That’s the pain of a lost, empty, unfulfilled soul. A man with no content. Because of no content, no direction, no place, and no purpose. An entity of nothing.

Nowhere Man  came to mind when I read the following verse from the Book of Jonah.

“When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.” (Jonah 2:7)

“Fainted” comes from the Hebrew “ataph”. It is a fascinating word meaning to envelope one self. To turn inside as to cover. It is self-protection, trying to cover oneself with yourself while in a weak and feeble state.

Ataph is transliterated into English in several different ways, each giving a better insight to its fuller meaning. Some examples of its varied transliteration into English include Overwhelmed (Psalm 61:2), Feeble (Genesis 30:42), He hideth (Job 23:9), Covered over (Psalm 65:13) and (the spirit) Should fail (Isaiah 57:16)

A weak soul, that is overwhelmed and trying to hide, seeking solace within itself. A no where man in a no where land. But it was at this point when Jonah decided to reach out to God.

Is it not interesting that fallen man resorts to God only when 1. All of his (man’s) attempts have failed and 2. Circumstances are dire, he’s in a do or die situation.

Why doesn’t man resort with God all of the time, but rather chooses to resort to God only during calamity? Is the pride of life that big of a stumbling block for man? Does man require life’s extremes in order for his pride to justify reaching out to God?

Notice immediately upon prayer Jonah says, “my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.”

There is no delay in a prayers to God. In fact, Jesus tells us that, “your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” (Matthew 6:8).

God knows even before our prayers reach our lips. So why wait to pray? Why put off praying? The send and receive of a prayer is quicker than instantaneous because it is delivered before it is even sent!

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

Pride in our lives may be more prevalent and more powerful than we thought. Think about that if God is only a last resort option.

Bill Hitchcock