Corona Devo 3138

Sometimes I will feel a spiritual nudge to do something or engage with someone...and I do it.   I write the note, or pay the visit, or provide the meal.  But sometimes I feel the prompting to do God's will, and because of timing, resources, or my own self-will: I don't do it.

We are human after all, and...bygones, right?  

Right--except sometimes God isn't just asking us, He is tasking us...and when our God means business, (His business), then we had better comply.

An example of this in the Bible is Jonah.  An example of this in our lives is (sometimes) us.

Let's talk about Jonah first.

God tasked Jonah with going to the city of Nineveh and speaking to their people about the sin that they were involved in.  The only problem was: Jonah didn't want to go.

God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh.

God tasked Jonah to go to Nineveh.

But Jonah did not go to Nineveh, he caught the next ship out of town and hid in the bow of the boat. When God asks us and tasks us, it's not good when we don't obey.

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.   ~Jonah 1:1-3

While Jonah was sleeping on the boat, a terrible storm came and threw the waters into dangerous waves and threw the crew into a panic. They did everything they could think of to appease the storm...and then they remembered Jonah.

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.”... (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.”  ~Jonah 1:4-5, 8-9

Jonah knows who he is.  

Jonah knows Who he belongs to.

Jonah knows Who God is.

Jonah knows God's power, sovereignty, and authority.

Do we know whose we are today?  (We are children of God: See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (2) Dear friends, now we are children of God...  I John 3:1-2)

Say it out loud, like Jonah.  “...I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 

I find it incredibly striking that Jonah spoke out loud (to himself and to the crew of the ship) of who he was, Who he belonged to, and Jonah spoke in plain truth and fact about the power and authority of the God that he served.  ...And about the God that he was disobeying and running away from.

You may have heard the rest of Jonah's story: Jonah tells the crew to throw him into the sea in order to calm the waves and end the storm. They really didn't want to, but in desperation, they finally threw Jonah overboard.

Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” (15) Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. (16) At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.   ~Jonah 1:14-16

Jonah spent the next three days and nights in the belly of a great fish. And you know what happened while he was in there? 

He came to himself. 

Or rather...he came to his God.  Our God.  "The God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land" (Jonah 1:9).

Jonah remembered and believed and trusted the God that he served.  Jonah decided to accept and trust God's plan over his own plan, and Jonah recommitted his heart to the Lord.

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. (2) He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 

(3) You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.

(4) I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’... 

(6) To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever.  But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. 

(7) “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 

(8) “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. 

(9) But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.  What I have vowed I will make good. 

I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”  ~Jonah 2:1-5, 6-9

In the belly of that great fish, Jonah accepted the task that God had assigned him, which was to go to Nineveh and tell the wicked people of Nineveh to repent and to follow God.

You'll never guess what happened. 
The people of Nineveh (including their king) did repent.

The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 

(6) When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.... (8) ...Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. (9) Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” 

(10) When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.  ~Jonah 3:5-6, 8-10

Pop Quiz: Did Jonah do that...or did our Lord and God do that?
Of course, the Ninevites changed course because of God.

Jonah didn't have to make them believe.  Jonah just had to do what God had tasked him to do.

What has God tasked us with today?

Is there something (someone?) that God has tasked us with, but we have run, or hid, or avoided it?

If God has tasked us with His business, then we had better comply.  

And then watch what GOD does.  Not us.  Never us, but He does use us to accomplish His good purposes.  

Why are we hiding?  

Why would we impede God's good will on others?  

And P.S.: Don't make God put us in a "belly of the whale" experience.  

Remember who we serve...and whose we are: I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9).

Our Lord is powerful and He will accomplish His tasks.  If we feel a spiritual nudge to do something or engage with someone today...do it.  And watch what God does.

Blessings, 

sarah 

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com