Responsibility Without Authority?

Have you ever been in a place where you were given lots of responsibility, but you weren’t given much authority to go with it? I have, and it’s a hard place to be. You can get little done on the task because you don’t have the authority to make decisions yourself. At least that’s the way it feels regarding our work.

Guess who else found himself in this kind of situation? Jonah, who spent 3 days in the belly of a fish. This is not something I’ve ever thought about before studying Jonah in a different way as I completed week two of Scarlet Hiltibidal’s study, Anxious.

She points out that Jonah had one job: go tell the Ninevites about God. So, what did he do? Ran the opposite direction, boarded a ship, experienced a storm caused by his disobedience, and then was thrown overboard and swallowed by a fish. If you are familiar with his story we find in the Old Testament book of Jonah, you know he survived being in the fish’s belly and was spit out on a seashore, penitent and ready to obey God’s instructions.

If that was the end of the story, we wouldn’t understand the “responsibility without the authority” thing. But it wasn’t. Jonah preached about God, the Ninevites repented and then, instead of being happy about their salvation, Jonah is angry! So angry, he became depressed and wanted to die!

As the author of Anxious teaches, the lesson we learn about the topic of this post is seen in what she calls Jonah’s “titular” book in Scripture. I had to look up the word since I’d never heard it before. According to Oxford Languages, it means holding a “formal position or title with no authority!”

This is what Jonah had in his relationship with God. His responsibility of the position of prophet and was to do what God said: preach to the Ninevites, not to fix the them. He was just to tell them about God’s love and forgiveness. And guess what? That is our responsibility as well. We are to carry out whatever responsibility God says is ours for today and leave it in His hands to do what He chooses.

Sound easy? How many times have you and I tried to fix things our way while carrying out whatever task the Lord has given us? We can love, empathize, and show others compassion in His power and in His way. Then we must leave the authority for how He chooses to work in His hands alone.

It is NOT easy! We have preconceived ideas about how things are to work out. When the outcome is different from what we want, we have two choices. We can despair, even as deeply as Jonah did. Or we can understand the “titular” life we are to live for His glory. We accept our responsibility to carry out what He says, preferably obeying the first time He tells us, and then trust His authority to do it His way and in His timing…which will ALWAYS be best.

So, the next time you feel you have lots of responsibility and little, or no, authority, remember Jonah’s story. Remember your responsibility is to obey as you trust the authority and the heart of the Lord to work it out His way.

Banner photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash