Hosanna Restoration Church

It seems to me that if Jesus had something for those folks to learn from Jonah, it may just be that there is even more for us to learn if we are willing. When you have a minute, and it really only takes a very few, read the book of Jonah and see what the Lord will reveal to you.

Jonah begins with God giving Jonah an assignment. God wants him to go to Nineveh and announce His judgment on the evil city. I agree it does not sound like a popular assignment, but then not everything God may want from us is fun. Jonah began by running from God. He had a better plan! May we all learn from Jonah that God’s plans are always the best plans! Running won’t help. Thinking we have a better idea won’t help. God did let Jonah go for a while. In fact Jonah became so peaceful with his decision to go the wrong way that he was asleep in the bottom of a boat during a storm.

I love the way God can take even our wrong directions and produce something good from them. When the crew of the ship finally got tired of praying to their gods they asked Jonah about his God. Jonah confessed that he worshipped the God who made everything and that he was certain that this storm was due to the fact that he was running from God. He was so convinced that he told them to throw him overboard and the storm would stop. They were convinced to the point of praying to Jonah’s God before they threw him overboard. Sure enough the storm stopped and they became devoted servants of God. If you find yourself in a storm of life and realize you have been running from God, stop right where you are and ask God to turn it into something good. Even though things begin in a wrong direction, God can make it work.

This little toss into the sea looked like the end for Jonah, but God was not done yet. He still had Nineveh in mind. Instead of dying, Jonah found himself in the belly of fish. I am sure the boat was more comfortable, but as he faced death, Jonah cried out to God. When he had lost all hope he turned His thoughts once more to the Lord. Hopefully it does not take facing death to get us to look back and see what God has in mind, but it makes no difference where we are, if we will seek Him, He will help us. Jonah may have taken a strange road to Nineveh, but nevertheless He was headed back there now.

And so he went and he preached and the people repented and turned to God. This was what God wanted, but for some reason Jonah did not like it. He wanted judgment and not revival. Jesus came to save the lost but the religious folks wanted to say who was saved. Jesus wanted them to learn a lesson from Jonah. A good place for us to begin is to learn to follow God from the start. Don’t run from him. Always conform to His plans. He may have us in the exact place He wants us but if we decide we have a better plan He will let us go that way for a bit. Those plans will always produce confusion and at times storms. We may get so convinced that we are doing the right thing that we have such peace we can even doze in the storm, but there will be a wake up call because God doesn’t want us dozing. Every time we wake up it is a new beginning.

Are you running, dozing, dieing, or resting in the Lord? What can Jonah teach you? If you are running, stop. If you are dozing, wake up. If you are dieing, cry out. If you are resting in the Lord, stay close and keep listing. In every instance, something new is about to begin.