Considerations: Life Lessons from Jonah (Part III of III)
By Chris Voss
Jonah 2:7 (Jonah praying), “When my life was ebbing away, (then) I remembered you Lord ...”
Often we act the same way. When life is going well, we tend to take God for granted; but when we lose hope, when life is “ebbing away,” we cry out to Him. This kind of relationship with God can result only in an inconsistent, up-and-down spiritual life. A daily, consistent commitment to the Lord promotes a solid relationship with Him. Run to God during both the good and bad times and you will have a stronger spiritual life. Jonah 2:10, And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. (Which proves that you cannot keep a good man down.)
Seriously, it took a miracle of deliverance to get Jonah to do as God had commanded. It took a miracle to keep Jonah from running away from God. Will it take a miracle to get us to do God’s will? Will it take a miracle to keep us from running away from God?
We may feel as though we are disqualified from serving God because of past mistakes. But Jonah was given a second chance to participate in God’s work and so it can be with us.
God never gave up on Jonah and the same is true for you and me. God could have destroyed Jonah for his defiant anger, but instead He patiently loved and then taught Jonah valuable lesson concerning the will of God. Never give up on God and God will never give up on you.
Does God’s Holy Word convict our hearts of what we should be doing with our lives, but, like Jonah, we refuse to respond? Are we aware that when we sin, others may be influenced and even be harmed? Are our consciences Godly consciences, not as Jonah’s conscience, and therefore dependable and trustworthy? Do we pray without ceasing?
When life is going well, do we neglect God and take Him for granted? Do we only need God, like Jonah, when our lives are “ebbing away?”
As we reflect upon the story of Jonah, let us examine our own lives in relation to these questions and remember that we cannot run away from God. We must learn to listen to the spiritual nudgings on our hearts that we receive from the Holy Spirit and then obey in ways that glorify and honor our Savior and Lord.
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Chris Voss is a pastor at First Christian Church, 317 S. Main, Donna.