"Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” -Jonah 4:4
I remember reading about a man who was walking down a street and noticed another man struggling with a washing machine at the doorway of his house. When the newcomer volunteered to help, the homeowner was overjoyed, and the 2 men together began to work and struggle with the bulky appliance. After several minutes of fruitless effort the 2 stopped and just stared at each other in frustration. They looked as if they were on the verge of total exhaustion. Finally, when they caught their breath, the first man said to the homeowner: “We’ll never get this washing machine in there!” To which the homeowner replied: “In? I'm trying to move it out of here!”
Jonah's life wasn't too different from this illustration. Jonah constantly struggled with God. When God said GO (Nineveh) Jonah said NO by going the opposite direction. Because of this hesitancy toward the Lord's will for his life, God prepared a storm specially for for him. He was then thrown overboard, and when he thought life couldn't get any worse he gets swallowed up by a great fish which God had also prepared for him. When Jonah finally repented in the belly of that fish and preached repentance to the Ninevites there was a citywide revival. Jonah then became exceedingly angry and upset because he wanted his own outcome i.e. God's wrath upon them! Jonah was never satisfied and always suicidal because of it. He was always struggling against God, atleast from what the Bible tells us about him. The book of Jonah in a nutshell is really about the struggle Jonah had within himself and how God relentlessly pursued Him regardless of his feelings.
We can learn a few lessons from Jonah; for one, don't fight against God, it won't work, you will only be adding more stress and problems to your life. Secondly never let your feelings dictate your decisions or behavior. Somebody once said "feelings can be good passengers, but they're terrible drivers." also don't let your feelings be the backseat drivers of your life, turn up the spiritual radio of worship and tune them out if you have to! Life is hard as it is, you will get sick, your kids will get sick, problems will arise from left and right there's nothing we can do about those things, the only control we have is our reaction to these things. Lastly sometimes God uses these "prepared" things to get you to where He needs you to be spiritually. The more you struggle the harder it is to learn the lesson especially "prepared" for you!
Jonah's life wasn't too different from this illustration. Jonah constantly struggled with God. When God said GO (Nineveh) Jonah said NO by going the opposite direction. Because of this hesitancy toward the Lord's will for his life, God prepared a storm specially for for him. He was then thrown overboard, and when he thought life couldn't get any worse he gets swallowed up by a great fish which God had also prepared for him. When Jonah finally repented in the belly of that fish and preached repentance to the Ninevites there was a citywide revival. Jonah then became exceedingly angry and upset because he wanted his own outcome i.e. God's wrath upon them! Jonah was never satisfied and always suicidal because of it. He was always struggling against God, atleast from what the Bible tells us about him. The book of Jonah in a nutshell is really about the struggle Jonah had within himself and how God relentlessly pursued Him regardless of his feelings.
We can learn a few lessons from Jonah; for one, don't fight against God, it won't work, you will only be adding more stress and problems to your life. Secondly never let your feelings dictate your decisions or behavior. Somebody once said "feelings can be good passengers, but they're terrible drivers." also don't let your feelings be the backseat drivers of your life, turn up the spiritual radio of worship and tune them out if you have to! Life is hard as it is, you will get sick, your kids will get sick, problems will arise from left and right there's nothing we can do about those things, the only control we have is our reaction to these things. Lastly sometimes God uses these "prepared" things to get you to where He needs you to be spiritually. The more you struggle the harder it is to learn the lesson especially "prepared" for you!
- THINK BACK WHAT HARD LESSONS HAS GOD SHOWN YOU IN THE PAST? HOW DID IT CHANGE YOU?
- "Remember the teacher is always quiet during the test." -?