Hey,
Jonah!
There’s No Getting Away
by Pastor John Hamel
“Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah… Arise, go to Nineveh… But Jonah rose up
to flee unto Tarshish… But the Lord sent out a
great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea…Then the
mariners were afraid… So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the
sea… Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah
was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” (Jonah 1:1-17)
Been running from
God? You may as well just face it. There’s no getting away from the hounds of Heaven. They’ll
pursue you over the course of your life and never turn from their
assignment. Possibly it’s beginning to occur to you that God is omnipresent,
meaning that He is present everywhere.
You cannot possibly
go somewhere God is not present. You can head south until you come to
the end of the highway. Once there you can board a ship going to sea
and God will just board it with you. You can climb the mast of that
ship to escape Him and He’ll just climb it with you. He’ll come up
behind you and say, “Hey, Jonah Jr. What are you doing up here?
I told you to go over there. Did you think I would change My
mind? You should read My Book. It says I never change My mind.”
(Malachi 3:6)
When God told Jonah
to go to Ninevah, Jonah ran to Tarshish. He thought he had better, more
important things to do. So on the way to Tarshish,
the Lord allowed a huge storm to rise up to get Jonah’s attention. He
got all knocked around by the storm, thrown overboard and swallowed by a
big ugly fish.
Sounds like you,
doesn’t it? You ran from God and everything was smooth sailing for
awhile. You thought you were getting away with something.
Suddenly, things changed. The storms blew in and next thing you knew,
life started falling apart. You told yourself, “Things will get
better.” Only they never did. They never will, unless, of
course, you repent.
That’s what happens when God
has you between a rock and a hard place and you run.
THE PLACE YOU RUN TO IS ALWAYS A HARDER PLACE. A MUCH, MUCH HARDER
PLACE!
The great fish of
horrible circumstances has swallowed you up and it’s time to do what Jonah
did. He repented.
“Then Jonah prayed
unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly… I will pay that that I have
vowed… And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it
vomited out Jonah upon the dry land… And Jonah began to enter into the
city…” (Jonah 2:1,9,10; 3:4)
How interesting
that when Jonah repented, the fish spit him up right where he was supposed
to be – Ninevah. That fish swallowed him
up, turned around and started swimming right back towards the will of God
for Jonah. Ninevah. Isn’t that something?
One way or another
God was determined that Jonah was going to Ninevah. He also knew that His boy, Jonah, would
ultimately repent. So he hooked him
up with some very positive, negative circumstances that
made it easy for Jonah, in spite of how hard Jonah had made it for
himself. What a good, good God He
is. He’s never our problem. He’s always our solution.
Have you been
running from God like Jonah was running from God? You may not realize it but you aren’t
getting away. As a matter of fact,
your present circumstances are what God is using to bring you back to the center
of His perfect will for your life.
So why don’t you just pray like Jonah prayed. You’ll be surprised to discover your
present circumstances spitting you up right in the center of God’s will for
your life, too!
God’s not mad, either. He’s just more persistent
than you’ll ever be. He loves you too much
to let you get away. As a matter of
fact, He’s right there where you are now just waiting for you to
apologize.
Pray, “Father, I’ll
do as You say. Thanks for keeping the love pressure on. You can
let up on me now. I’ve got the message. It’s time to come home. Please forgive me, in Jesus’ Name. I’ll do anything you say as long as I
know it’s You.”
Things will stop
happening TO you now and start happening FOR you.
Don’t know Jonah’s
God as your Savior? Say, “Jesus, You’re my choice.”
(Romans 10:13)
Then do as He says. You’ll save yourself lots of
needless storms and troubles!
Be Blessed … John
and Barbara Hamel
How
to Be Born Again (Receive Christ as Your Savior)
How
to Receive The Holy Spirit & Power
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