Just Stick To The Plan

The Plan of God

1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,

2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

God’s plan is to send a messenger to Nineveh that will preach his word to the people in that great city. The people will hear the Word of God, believe, repent, and regain favor in the sight of God.

If God sends you, it also means he’s going with you.

Don’t be intimidated and fearful when God sends you where you don’t want to go and gives you a task you think you can’t perform.

The Presence of God

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

We see now that Jonah appears to have his own plan.

In verse three it says he gets up and decides to ignore the plan that God has set in motion and decides to go to Tarshish.

Not only does he choose to not follow the plan, he chooses to go with them.

Jonah has just altered the plan. He has chosen the go with them over going with God.

The verse uses the phrase “flee to Tarshish” which is ironic as if Tarshish was a place that could protect Jonah from being reached by God.

The verse on two occasions mentions that Tarshish is a place that is from the presence of the Lord.

Where Jonah was headed was not where God was going.

Ten Commandments movie - Moses was sticking to the plan by bringing the people out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, God opened up a way for him to move forward.

When you don’t stick to the plan, you end up at the Red Sea with no deliverance in sight.

The Preparation of God

King James Version Chapter 1

4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

God sees that his servant appears to not be ready to do what he was commanded to do so he sends a strong wind to get his attention.

The farther you go away from God’s plan, the stronger his attention getter will be.

Parents Getting Attention of Children - You call them in your normal voice. You call them again in a slightly raised voice. You call them in a strong and loud voice.

In times of emergency you have to start with your loud voice.

God had to go straight to the loud voice because Jonah was going in the wrong direction.

King James Version Chapter 1

17 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.

God prepared a strong wind and then he prepared for Jonah a stronghold, the great fish that swallowed him up.

Now Jonah finds himself in the ultimate timeout where all he can do is pray to the God he was running from and see if God will hear him from the belly of this fish.

He’s got a lot of time to think about all the things that have been happening in his life to this point.

Closing

Jonah’s story is one that should make us all feel like we are looking in the mirror. Not you in the singular sense, but all of us collectively.

It’s clear that Jonah has a relationship with the Lord because he knew that it was God that came to him with the command. Yet he did everything to get away from him.

The Plan for this people in this nation was to go with God.

America has gotten away from God.

God was in our Declaration of Independence

God was in the schoolhouse - We taught the Bible, Our children prayed, Pledge of Allegiance says one nation under God

God was on our money - In God we trust

That’s how we got started but we have chosen to go a different way.

While our founding fathers had God as a forethought during the establishment of our nation, our leaders today see God as an afterthought.

Bible teaching is no longer permitted in schools neither do we pray anymore. And during the pledge of allegiance you can now choose to remain silent if you don’t want to recite it or some state have eliminated it altogether.

The phrase in God we trust is still on our money, but the reminder of in whom we trust is no longer before us because many of us don’t see the money in our hands like we used to. We use credit and debit cards, electronic bank transfers.

The Presence of God seems to be far from us.

The buildings we call church, with steeples and bells that ring, with crosses that adorn their marquees, are no longer open.

The crowds are no longer able to gather in the place they went to experience the presence of God.

For many, during this season God seems to be far away and distant.

This could be a biproduct of us not sticking to the plan.

The Preparation of God

The preparation we endure now finds us in a storm that has people wondering if we will perish.

People are wondering, will God rescue us from this pandemic that plagues our world.

Every time I see the news, the numbers are getting higher and higher.

Some of us are now dealing with the knowledge of someone we know personally that has the virus or has died from the virus.

People are scared as it seems like it may be only a matter of time before the storm arrives on their doorstep.

But God prepared a great fish for Jonah. A place where he found himself alone with nothing else to do but seek his God.

We too have a great fish and it’s called quarantine. Most of us are alone. You may have people in your house that live with you, but we’ve been disconnected from everyone else just like Jonah was. All we can do is pray and seek our God.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.