Here is a question for you – What do you do when you find yourself in the belly of a situation that makes you feel as though you are hemmed in from all sides? WHO do you cry out to?
Some of the situations God allows us (or loved ones) to go through is because the Creator (who created YOU) knows just what it will take for you to experience what I call an “Aha!” Moment and recognize how much you REALLY need and are dependent upon Him.
Have you been running from God as Jonah ran from God? God had a task He wanted Jonah to do, Jonah was not quiet about his faith, Jonah who very vocally professed to be a Hebrew in Jonah 1:9:
“I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea and dry land.”
Jonah thought he could run from God… Listen, can we take a moment and be honest? You CAN’T run from God, the sheer thought that we think we can, is as ridiculous as when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Even and tried to hide from God. GOD IS OMNIPOTENT. He SEES all, He HEARS all, He KNOWS all. How ridiculous we are to think we can keep ANYTHING from Him???
God had given Jonah a task and Jonah did NOT want to do it! Jonah rebelled, but God pursued. Has God told you of a plan that He has for your life that you are neglecting to do?
When God told Moses that He wanted to use Him as His vessel to set the Israelites free from Pharaoh and the Egyptians (you can read about this by clicking on the pink link directly below, in my post entitled, “Do You Believe God?”). Moses did not have confidence in himself to get accomplished what God was asking Him to do, but still He obeyed and did it. Moses questioned his ability to do what God wanted Him to do, but He did not run from Him. He obeyed.
It is okay to recognize that we cannot do something in our own strength. It is okay to recognize that we are dependent upon God in ALL areas of our lives. The Bible says in Zechariah 4:6:
“Not by power, not by might but by My Spirit, says the Lord.”
Recognizing that we were not created to be independent from our Creator is the beginning of wisdom. God had a purpose for Jonah and God has a purpose for you. Stop running away from Him and start running towards. If you are part of God’s Called Remnant, He has CALLED you for a reason! Just as with Jonah, God has a specific reason and purpose for what He is asking you to do.
Jonah 1:1-2 says:
The Word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai. “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
Which means Jonah knew that what was being asked of Him was from God. The word of the Lord came to Him. It was clear that God was asking him to do a task. Maybe God is asking you to be a witness before those that don’t know Him, shine the light of Christ before those that are lost and don’t personally know Him and maybe – like in the case of Jonah, you are running from what He is asking because you don’t want to be around whoever it is God is asking you to be around? (That’s a Holy Spirit Word for someone who is reading this…). Perhaps God knows that you showing that person(s) the love of Christ (even if YOU don’t have love for them inside of you) will be the key to their coming to Christ? The Bible says in John 13:35:
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Hey – I get it! Not everyone we come in contact with is lovable! There have been people God has had me come in contact with that I have even verbally said to Him:
“Father, I do NOT have it in me to love their nasty, hateful selves!” And God’s response has been, “That is exactly why I am sending you. What happened to you professing Galatians 2:20 ???”
“I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives by faith in me.”
And there have been times when He has said to me, as in 1 Corinthians 6:11:
“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
When God is giving you a task that goes against EVERYTHING you want to do, there is a reason for it, most of the time beyond the portion of it that YOU can see. Remember, 1 Corinthians 13:12 says:
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
You are no better than anyone else. The only difference between those of us who have made a profession of faith and have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is NOTHING other than the blood of Jesus. THAT IS IT. It is NOTHING other than God’s grace, God’s Mercy, God’s forgiveness, God’s patience and God’s love that differentiates us from those that don’t know Jesus AT ALL.
So when God gives us a task to do – we need not to RUN from it, but to HEED it. Because if we don’t – as what was the example in the book of Jonah, the consequences from running from God can not only have an effect on our lives, but the lives of those around us. See Jonah 1:4 :
“Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.”
Your being obedient as someone who has professed to ALL others to be a Christian by your actions REALLY does have an effect on those that God has around you. It can either draw others to Christ (because even if they don’t realize it, they see a difference in you – and the difference they see IS the Light of Christ that resides IN you) OR it can push them away. What are your words, your actions, the way you live say to others about who you are in Christ? Whether or not we believe or know it, if you verbally have made it known that you are a Christian, you ARE Christ’s Ambassador and what you say, how you act and treat others really can have a positive or negative effect on those who do not know Jesus.
Jonah was honest with the sailors (whose ship he had purchased a ticket for and travelled on. (See Jonah 1:3). These were unbelievers who even though they were unbelievers recognized the sovereignty of Jonah’s God AND who even ended up worshiping Jonah’s God. (The One true God).
Jonah realized that his disobedience was causing those around him (the sailors) to suffer and when we read Jonah 1:11-12, we see Jonah knew (and advised them) as to what they needed to do:
“The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” “
In my eyes, Jonah was not a stupid man, he just was one who was fighting against the will of God for his life. Are YOU fighting against what God is telling YOU He wants to do in your life? How is that working out for you??? 🙂 I ask because I know what it is like to run from God, I’ve done it – only to end up circling back around to give in and be and do what God wanted me to do in the first place… Hopefully this post will save YOU the time it took ME in having to do what I should have done in the first place – listen and obey God. Which is what ended up happening with Jonah.
You can read the book of Jonah in the Bible for yourself, but most everyone is familiar with the “Jonah story” God had a huge fish swallow Jonah, where he sat for three days and three nights in the belly of this fish.
Sometimes God bring us into situations that feel (as I indicated at the beginning of this post) like we are “in the belly of a matter” where we have no choice but sit still and know He is God. That was the case with Jonah, and when his own will was finally broken, and he was ready to submit to the will of God, that big ol’ fish spat him out on dry ground, with a Jonah, whose heart had become softened, and whose will was ready to do the will of God.
Jonah’s obedience to a God who is patient, a God who is forgiving, a God who is just, a God who does NOT desire that ANY should perish – saved Nineveh from destruction. His preaching caused THEIR hearts to change, as Jonah’s himself had changed. God knows what He is doing, even if WE don’t know what He is doing – He doesn’t always feel it’s necessary to explain the why of what He does (although sometimes by His grace, He does see fit to show/tell us). The most important thing we can get from Jonah’s story is to TRUST that God KNOWS what He is doing and to be obedient to whatever it is that God is calling US to do. Truly I can attest that there is NO greater joy than to walk in the center of God’s will for your life. There is JOY in it. There is PEACE in it. There is CONTENTMENT in it, and there is an amazing amount of LOVE in doing the will of God. If God determines to use you as one of His vessels, praise Him! There is NO greater calling than that of God. Don’t run away from Him, that’s pointless! Run towards! And thank GOD for the honor of being a vessel that He wants to use as one who will bring glory unto Him! There truly IS no greater joy!
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