So..you think you're a prophet???

Why did Jonah run from God?? Perhaps another way to understand that question and a beautiful way to apply its truth and warning to our lives is to ask a few questions of ourselves..!! Where are you comfortable?? Where are you holding things as your comfort and not receiving that fount of blessing and comfort from your God?? Remember that anything that takes importance over your Lord is an Idol...!!! Oh Jonah!!  Before we jump into this whale of a tale once again...Let's worship together..?? Lord Jesus..thank you for your blessings..and I thank you for the treasure that you are..that you are all we could ever need or hope for in this life and for eternity! We praise you for who you are..merciful and mighty..Loving and True...Eternal and perfect..worthy of our praise in every way!! We ask for your help to daily surrender to your will and to have your Holy Spirit consecrate our lives to you..the one for whom we were made...so..take our lives Father and let them be consecrated wholly unto thee...Amen!! Please worship with me as the music plays.."Take my life and Let it be"!!

Wow..so here we are again looking at the prophet of God..the one who was assigned to be a mouthpiece for the Lord and now running from giving God's message to Nineveh!! Question: when was the last time you thought you knew your calling? When was the last time you thought you had God's truth and purpose all figured out?? Let's look at the text!!

Jonah Flees From the Lord

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: ² “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

³ 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.

⁴ Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵ All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.

But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. ⁶ The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

⁷ Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.”They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

⁹ He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. ”

¹⁰ This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)


Ok...  


We've already covered the fact that Ancient Assyria was definitely a scary place! Also, please remember that we've covered the fact that Jonah was the golden boy for Israel's team...he was a Hebrew and proud of it..a mouthpiece to God's chosen people...!! Nineveh??? There had to be some mistake!!  I mean wasn't Jonah a mouthpiece for God's people?? God's chosen people??? Uh Ohh...


A resounding no!!! Jonah was a mouth piece for GOD..for YaHWeh...For EloHim..and not for Israel...Yes..Jonah was called by God to be God's mouthpiece to Israel..sure..!! But the point dear friends is that he was God's not Israel's!! Oh what dangerous tightropes of truth we walk upon when our eyes are not fixed on our constant!! Indeed, how dangerous to take our eyes off the power source even for a moment, or off the author and perfecter of our faith, when we think of the length of the fall!! Yikes!! What a subtle shift in Jonah's mind and what a large and glaring result!! 


Principle: When you forget the one in charge of your call, prepare to take a very big fall!!




Amazing to me is the fact that Jonah was working for the Lord and following His commands...it's not like he didn't serve God, or only wanted to serve himself...!! Where did the problem occur?? Jonah focused on the call God gave him and not on the dream giver..the call giver!! 


So, Jonah even knew that he was running from the Lord and why!! So fixed was he on the notion that this was not his calling...Friends..we are always called to say Yes to the Lord...and we are always His workmanship created to do good works that God prepared in advance for us to do...!! When God calls you...don't worship the call and miss the "all" part of the calling..!! Principle: Always remember that God's in charge of all when it comes to the call!!


So convinced was Jonah that he was needing to protect himself and his calling to be the prophet of Israel and not of God alone...he falls asleep...Ha! Oh but in that sleep of death what dreams may come!! Jonah went below deck and fell asleep..riding out the storm..riding out the waves...Friends?? Have you ever done that? Have you ever thought that if you just closed your eyes and pretended that the storm and the confusion wasn't there that it would eventually go away?? Oh Lord...please help me to remember that the only way out of the storm is through it!! A wonderful Nazarene pastor reminded me about the fact that the storms of this life serve a purpose..and we must ride them out and face them head on in order to reach the peaceful shore!! 


Alrighty!! we know that we are all guilty of being given a gift..a calling and then missing the one who gave it to us in the first place!! How do we avoid this dangerous deception?? How do we resist this error?? Look up!! 

Hebrews 3:1

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Jesus greater than Moses

3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.

 Colossians 1:9-14 reads, "We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,^[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."


Question: When was the last time you loved the gift God gave you more than the gift giver?? Please share or feel free to comment as I'm certain our imperfections are used by God to perfect us for His glory!! 


Prayer: Lord, please forgive me for loving any thing or calling or gift more than the one who gives to me blessings unfathomable!! Lord, take my life and take my hands and take my lips and may my answer to you always be "Yes"!!


In the next blog we will discuss more about what it means to look up and to set your hearts on things above..not on earthly things..