"Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."
Jonah 1:1-3
I like Jonah I think because I can relate to him. We read of other prophets who heard the call when the Lord asked them to step up, and they did. Jonah however ran in the other direction. He did repent when in the belly of the fish, but he still had a pretty rebellious attitude, even after finally doing as God asked.
I love that we have his example, because it tells us that God wants to work with all of us, even when we have failed repeatedly at doing things God's way or responding to his invitations. It teaches us that God is willing to work with us and help us turn to him even when we have bad attitudes or we initially refuse his call. That, of course, doesn't mean that we should intentionally rebel or act contrary to his will, but I am certainly glad of the space and time that God gives us as we learn who we are and more about God.
Today, let's work on listening to God and doing as he asks. Tough, especially for the rebellious types like Jonah, but what we learn from God is worth the effort.
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."
Jonah 1:1-3
I like Jonah I think because I can relate to him. We read of other prophets who heard the call when the Lord asked them to step up, and they did. Jonah however ran in the other direction. He did repent when in the belly of the fish, but he still had a pretty rebellious attitude, even after finally doing as God asked.
I love that we have his example, because it tells us that God wants to work with all of us, even when we have failed repeatedly at doing things God's way or responding to his invitations. It teaches us that God is willing to work with us and help us turn to him even when we have bad attitudes or we initially refuse his call. That, of course, doesn't mean that we should intentionally rebel or act contrary to his will, but I am certainly glad of the space and time that God gives us as we learn who we are and more about God.
Today, let's work on listening to God and doing as he asks. Tough, especially for the rebellious types like Jonah, but what we learn from God is worth the effort.
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