Jonah - Part 2

Here are some additional thoughts that I have gathered while going through the book of Jonah especially Chapter 1.

The book of Jonah speaks a lot about our own self. Of all of the Old Testament prophets, I believe many of us find ourselves like Jonah. There are times we are running away from God and from the great commission that He has given to us. We may have our very own reasons for running away but God who is gracious will lead us back to Himself and His will.

In the case of Jonah, God Jehovah has to bring a storm into Jonah's life to wake him up from the slumber of disobedience. I believe strongly that in our Christian walk, God will bring "storms" in order to bring us back to His will and purpose. But many times, we mistaken the storms as trials and we start to rebuke the enemy for bringing it into our lives. We need to learn to discern between the storms that God send into Jonah's life and the trials that Job has to go thru.

God always gives us the freedom to make our own decisions. Even when He gave Jonah direct instructions, He allowed Jonah to choose to disobey.Yet, let’s always remember that there are always consequences to our decisions or actions. How do we today attempt to run from God? We act to please ourselves rather than do what the Lord desires of us. For example, we ignore wise counsel regarding a potential marriage partner or refuse to discipline our children. We cannot disobey God without it costing us in some way.

Obviously, we cannot run from God. Proverbs 15:3 "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." But the good news is our God is a Loving God. Many times the Lord gives us another opportunity to obey Him. After the sea creature deposited Jonah on land, the prophet traveled to Nineveh and preached to the people.They responded to the divine warning and turned from their evil ways.

So the good news here is that the Lord often gives a second chance to obey Him. Have you been running from God in some area of your life? If so, return to the Father and give Him complete control. He delights to work through available, obedient servants.

Be Blessed.