Jonah-Why should I
Lessons From Jonah
“Why should I?”
Must first understand the heart of God, that He desires only the best for us. Our obedience or disobedience does not add or subtract anything from Who He is. In other words, our obedience does not increase Who He is; it does not add anything to Him that was not already there; it does not gain Him anything. Conversely our disobedience does not lessen His substance, nothing we could ever do (or not do) would add to or detract from Who He is…He is God, He is complete and all powerful.
Not to say that He is unaffected by the choices we make. Bible is clear that God moves and acts in response to our actions…He cares deeply for us…gave His best so that we could be with Him.
But He has no ulterior motives in calling us to obedience. He simply wants us to live the richest, most free life that we can.
What does it matter if you follow Christ?
Jonah 1:1-3 (NKJV) " Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."
Effects on you
Have you ever run from God? Have you ever felt the subtle prompting of the Holy Spirit in your heart, only to dismiss it or turn the other direction?
Ever felt Jesus calling you deeper with Him, and then turn away from Him so that you were worse off than before?
Ever tire of waiting on the timing of God?
Ever want to put aside the guidelines that God gives us for relationships, because you are afraid of being alone?
We can’t run from God. (and be ok)
Hebrews 12:6 (NLT) "For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes those he accepts as his children.”"
Jonah’s run started off ok. Nice little trip through the countryside to the shoreline. Nice boat, nice crew…enjoying the boat ride…Those clouds on the horizon sure look dark, but I am sure they will miss us, after all I am a child of God.
My children…
Those of us who are sailing today on comfortable and pleasant seas will someday realize that we are headed into a great storm. The living God in heaven won’t forever tolerate deliberate rebellion, and He will do whatever He needs to bring us back to obedience. Perhaps we have gone deliberately from the presence of the Lord, starting with small things. We skip church. We stop reading the Word of God. We quit praying. We distance ourselves from the accountability of Christian friends. And then the larger steps of sin become easier.
We do everything to get away from the presence of the Lord, but the problem is, we truly are believers and the Holy Spirit is in our hearts. He is going to keep after us and make us miserable and send storms into our lives that will disrupt everything until we finally come to our senses.
Disobedience is a Downward trip
Twice it mentions that Jonah went away from the presence of God. If you look closely you might note that Jonah’s journey away from God was a downward spiral. Through the whole book he went down to Joppa, then he went down into the ship. Then he went down into the sea. Then he went down into the belly of the great fish. Then the great fish went down to the very depths of the ocean.
Effects on those around you
Jonah 1:4-5 (NKJV) "But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep."
Whenever we get out of the will of God there are always implications for other people, some of which we might not even know about at the time.
God always gives us the choice to obey or to disobey, but once we choose to sin the consequences are totally out of our hands. It’s like a man standing by a pond with a stone in his hand. He has a chose to hang on to that rock or throw it into he pond. Once he chooses to throw that rock into the pond, the ripple effects are completely out of his control.
Because of Jonah’s sin, God was disrupting the lives of all around him. The (crew of the ship) mariners didn’t have any idea why they were about to perish, so they began to do what almost everyone does in a crisis—cry out to their god.
Jonah’s sleep in the bottom of the ship was more than physical. He was closing his eyes to the reality of his sin and the danger he was bringing to others.
Jonah had been commissioned by God to be a spokesman for Him, yet he spent several hours on that ship and never once made reference to his God until he was interrogated by the sailors.
While we sleep safely the world is going down and breaking apart, and they are trying to connect with God but they don’t know how. Mariners were looking for God in all the wrong places…calling on the names of their personal gods, family gods, and national gods. But they could not connect with the one true God until they consulted with the man of God
You obedience or disobedience affects the world around you.
Jonah’s sin affected the mariners
Also could have affected Ninevah and destroyed it.
Unknown effects
We serve a God who is omniscient…
He knows how all the possibilities could be. Fun thing to ask in Heaven.
When we walk in obedience (right relationship) with God, endless possibilities exist. Because He is always working on and in us…even when we don’t see or feel it.
*A kid at school who has noticed your different, and has been keeping an eye on you and your life.
*A kind word from you at just the right time to someone you barely know, was actually ordained by God and prevented them from doing something terrible.
*dad was about to give up all hope, because he felt like a failure. But because of the Presence of Jesus on your life, you said just the right thing, you gave just the right look, you did just the right thing.
Who knows what total blessings and power your simple daily obedience to the Lord brings? In and of yourself you are nothing, but because you are connected with the Destiny Maker, the Hope Giver, the God of endless possibilities…your life is making a difference.
He also loves to bless His children
The obedience of Rahab the harlot. Not only was she spared the destruction that was to come…which is probably all she hoped for, but God had planned a great surprise for her. I can guarantee you that she never thought that because she obeyed the will of God that she would be enshrined in Scripture’s Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, and she is part of the ancestry of Christ Himself. Imagine her worship in Heaven!
Altar/Summary
Jonah chose to repent. He acted before it was too late…barely.
Every time you choose disobedience, a little something inside of you dies…your heart gets harder…risk getting to the point where you sever relationship with the Lord altogether.