Daily Devotions |
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33 |
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 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. This week we are focused on Jonah, his fear, his consequence and his deliverance. I love that the word of God never grows old. The necessity for Jonah's testimony is still present all these years later because we humans still try to run from the Lord. We find ourselves surrounded by storms because of our fear to follow the call of God. And for many of us, our past and failures work together for our benefit just like Jonah's. Today's devotion is two-fold. It has two different applications for two different kinds of people. Prayerfully, we all walk away from reading this exploration of Jonah more resolute to follow the direction of our savior.
Jonah's Fear For those of us who are no longer running from Jesus in the sense that we have accepted Christ, we can forget that Jonah ran because of his calling. I believe there are too many of us in church on Sunday who believe in the savior but don't believe in the calling he has given, Fear doesn't just attack the non-believer. On the contrary, fear is a much greater threat for those who have been given a task by God. We, who hear what God says but instead of being obedient run in the opposite direction, are also being admonished by Jonah's story. We are asked to trust God a little further. The Jonah Complex, as I like to call it, is not about being directly defiant, even though Jonah was assuredly defiant. It is actually more about fear. Jonah looked at the task that God gave him and allowed fear to take him into a whirlwind. His fear took him into an experience he never had to go through. And today it is our job to examine ourselves to cast down the spirit of fear that may be causing us to drift further from the place God has for us. Jonah's Consequence The scariest part of Jonah's story to me is in verses 5 and 6. Jonah was sleep while the storm he placed himself in was stirring. How Jonah could be on the run from the Lord and then allow the devil to cause him to be asleep when he was on the verge of death alarmed me. I was alarmed because Jonah's sleep showed me two things: Jonah got comfortable in the place he was in, running from the Lord. Jonah's sleep also made me consider that he had gotten to a place where he was blind to the danger of his sin. So, while running from God, Jonah was comfortable in a place of defiance and he was oblivious to the consequence of his sin. How many OF US are like this? We become so focused on the thing keeping us from living the full life Christ has for us that we become comfortable away from Christ. That comfort undoubtedly causes us to walk around unaware of the danger of our distance from God. Jonah's disobedience caused the entire ship he was on to be at risk for death. Everyone around him was aware that his impeding death was upon him. Everyone around Jonah was praying and eventually started telling him to pray. BUT JONAH WAS SLEEP. I don't think I need to keep on divulging on this metaphor. I also don't think I need to explicitly state which of the two kinds of people this portion of Jonah's story is for. If you have started to slumber in a distant place from Christ. Wake up and pray to your God! Stop allowing yourself to be comfortable in your place of sin and watch how God turns your failure into your deliverance for his glory. Jonah's Deliverance This portion of the Jonah story applies to all of us: The afraid and the defiant; the ones running from destiny and the one's sleeping in sin. The grace and mercy shown to Jonah in the end of the first chapter of this book is remarkable. The Lord turned around Jonah's sin but he did so only after Jonah did one very important thing: Jonah took responsibility of his sin. He stood up and told the men that he was the cause of the storm. Jonah was willing to accept that death was the consequence for his actions. If we are going to let go of our Jonah Complex, our fear or our distance from Christ, we have to first force our flesh to die. Jonah's decision to accept the consequence of his fear ultimately led him to be redeemed. Over the board of that ship was Jonah's destiny. Are you ready to be delivered from the fear that cripples and the sin that causes you to blind?
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About the ChallengeThe 100 Days of Excellence challenge is a 100 day journey to completely rearrange the course of your life. It is about seeking the thrown of God to hear what his plan is for our lives. It is a commitment to carry out every action in your future in the spirit of excellence. Archives
December 2016
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