Jonah (1) The peril of running away from duty

1 January 2019

Jonah (1)
Let's look at the book of Jonah for the next few days.
Jonah was a prophet but, a very reluctant one. When he received the call to go to Nineveh to warn people of the peril of living life without the Lord God, he flatly refused. In fact, he rebelled and bought a ticket on a ship going to Tarshish, to escape the presence of the Lord.

Now this was pure disobedience. When we are committed to God, as I am sure Jonah was or he wouldn't have been named as a prophet, then God would be expecting him to obey and go and execute the word He had given Jonah. However, the strong-willed, rather selfish Jonah was having none of this, and went off the other way to escape the presence of God.
This is a total impossibility. We cannot escape God, He is everywhere, but at times, we may have  tried to ignore what He is telling us, especially when He's pinpointing some sin in our lives that we want to hang on to. Disobedience can be costly, as Jonah found out.

A massive tempest was overcoming them and threatened to smash the ship and deposit them to a certain death in the raging water. Whenever, we're in danger we all have someone we cry out to for help. The captain and the crew were no different. They called on their gods, however, to no avail. Eventually they thought of Jonah down below, sleeping and ran and questioned him. Finally, satisfied that the was the reason for this peril, they considered throwing him overboard. But firstly, they tried to row back to land.But it was useless. They were sinking. You know, we need God in our lives to help us through dangers. He's the only one who can offer reasonable help. When their effort failed, they actually tossed Jonah into the waves, and the sea ceased from its raging.

Important points for today:

Disobedience We cannot continue to live in disobedience without God intervening

We need God We cannot try to make it alone. Trying to solve things and do things alone is a no go

Watch your attitude God requires our love and obedience as much as we require His

Cry out to God Whenever you need Him, He is there. Call on Him today