Wednesday Reading: Jonah 1:1-4
Key Verse: Jonah 1:3
3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of The Lord. And he went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to Tarshish. And he gave its fare, and went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarshish, away from the sight of The Lord.
Devotion:
One of the greatest problems we have in our lives is unbelief and I am not just talking about unbelief in God because we doubt all sorts of things in our lives. If you want to be as stubborn as Jonah then you can expect some rather strange things to happen in your life as God tries to get through to you. I am not saying that if you run away from God that you will end up in a big fish because that is what it took for Jonah. God knows what it will take to get through to you and He will make sure that if that is what it is going to take, then that is what He will do!
Does this mean that God is going to make our lives miserable? Far from it! You are the one that will make your life miserable all by yourself – believe me because I can see how I have done that in my life. It may just take God having a stern word with you rather than having to isolate you totally from society, or it may well take your life falling apart like Jonah’s life in order for Him to get through to you. But just because you believe in God it does not exclude you from the terrors that happen to people on this planet! Just because you are a Christian does not mean that you will escape the earthquake whilst all around you have to experience it... We live in a dynamic world that is firmly in Satan’s grip. He is going to do what he can to try and get you to doubt God – so expect things to still happen!
But if we turn our backs on God when He is trying to get through to us, we are not just turning our backs on God but turning towards Satan and giving him free reign instead. We can look through the book of Job and see just how evil Satan is and how much he is willing to do to even the most devout Christian just so that he can try to make us doubt! That is not a place that you should even think about going towards – just like Jonah would never have wanted to end up in the belly of a fish!
Points to Ponder:
Do you still have a problem listening to people?
How well do you listen to God?
Key Verse: Jonah 1:3
3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of The Lord. And he went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to Tarshish. And he gave its fare, and went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarshish, away from the sight of The Lord.
Devotion:
One of the greatest problems we have in our lives is unbelief and I am not just talking about unbelief in God because we doubt all sorts of things in our lives. If you want to be as stubborn as Jonah then you can expect some rather strange things to happen in your life as God tries to get through to you. I am not saying that if you run away from God that you will end up in a big fish because that is what it took for Jonah. God knows what it will take to get through to you and He will make sure that if that is what it is going to take, then that is what He will do!
Does this mean that God is going to make our lives miserable? Far from it! You are the one that will make your life miserable all by yourself – believe me because I can see how I have done that in my life. It may just take God having a stern word with you rather than having to isolate you totally from society, or it may well take your life falling apart like Jonah’s life in order for Him to get through to you. But just because you believe in God it does not exclude you from the terrors that happen to people on this planet! Just because you are a Christian does not mean that you will escape the earthquake whilst all around you have to experience it... We live in a dynamic world that is firmly in Satan’s grip. He is going to do what he can to try and get you to doubt God – so expect things to still happen!
But if we turn our backs on God when He is trying to get through to us, we are not just turning our backs on God but turning towards Satan and giving him free reign instead. We can look through the book of Job and see just how evil Satan is and how much he is willing to do to even the most devout Christian just so that he can try to make us doubt! That is not a place that you should even think about going towards – just like Jonah would never have wanted to end up in the belly of a fish!
Points to Ponder:
Do you still have a problem listening to people?
How well do you listen to God?