God Loves the Ninevites Too!
Jonah 4: 10-11 But the LORD said,
"You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or
make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But
I love the story of Jonah, the reluctant prophet. There are so many lessons God wants us to learn from this story. So much to apply to our lives and the work of the church in these end days.
Lesson number one is that you cannot run from God . Jonah had a direct word from the Lord to go and preach
repentance to the city of
But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. Jonah 1: 3
There can be a little bit of Jonah in all of us sometimes during our Christian walk. We know that God has given us a word about what role we are to play in His kingdom and we run. We know we are supposed to do missions work, or preach, or serve in an outreach ministry whatever. It is all labor for the Lord; yet we run. We run because it makes us uncomfortable. Because it isn't popular, or maybe because it costs us something. Whatever the rhyme or reason, we need to remember that:
for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. Romans 11:29
Sorry, but God is not going to change His mind folks. You can hop the boat to Tarshish, but God will be there too. When I first was called to a preaching ministry, I was Jonah. I had an opportunity to speak at a very relaxed small gathering and I turned it down. I didn't even pray about it. I had decided that I was not ready and that was it. I was serving in seven ministries and was just too busy. Within one month I lost half of my ministries. God was pruning away the clutter I had made my service to Him about. And then He made me wait 2 years for another opportunity, just to make sure that I was more afraid of not speaking then I was about speaking.
Jonah had his reasons for running from God too. I am
sure that in his mind, he was justified. The Ninevites were an infamous bloodthirsty
people who often raided the towns of
Lesson
number two is God is always knows better. Sometimes the
hardest thing about faith is keeping it even when it doesn't line up with our
rationale. We can fall into the habit of Jonah and think that we simply know
better. When faced with the mighty walls of
Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered
Wouldn't most of us be thinking, "Let me see if I got this right? Walk around the city for six days saying nothing and then on the seventh day, yell at the walls and the entire city will collapse?" Was God right? He sure was because the walls fell down just as He said they would, after Joshua acted on faith and did what God said.
Gideon also acted on faith. God told Gideon that he had too many men for his impending war against Midian. Gideon had 30,000 men ready to fight but God had other plans:
The LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place." So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. Judges 7: 7-8
I don't know about you but I think I would have been more comfortable with 30,000 men fighting for me then 300! Gideon however did not have the spirit of Jonah in him and he obeyed what God had instructed. Sure enough, God delivered Midian into their hands. Many of us are facing a Midian in our lives too. It is a formidable foe. It has been battling us for years maybe and we still can never seem to get the victory over it. God wants to deliver but He will always do so on His terms. His way is always right and do not forget:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55: 7-8
