Men of the Bible Series - God used Jonah's disobedience.
2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”
3 But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.
Jonah 1:12 “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.”
13 Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. “O Lord,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.”
15 Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! 16 The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.
Jonah's directions were very clear, it isn't very often that I feel like I have such a clear mission from God as the one that Jonah had, I have felt a burden to do something but I haven't ever gotten a mission so crystal clear as this.
Jonah was a prophet gone AWOL, look at what happened because Jonah wasn't willing to obey God:
- Jonah ran in the opposite direction, it's a classic response.
- Jonah caused the other passengers on the boat to suffer a loss, they feared for their lives and tossed their belongings overboard to lighten the load.
- Jonah created his own solution for the dire situation that he created, he probably preferred death over going to Nineveh.
Help me to always trust you to help me accomplish what you want me to do.
You might like to read: Men of the Bible blog series.
