God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

The Biblical story of Jonah teaches us the lesson of obedience. Jonah refused to obey the Lord’s instruction and suffered miserably for his choice.

In this biblical story, the Lord told Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh to tell the wicked people to repent and listen to the Lord or be destroyed.

Jonah Flees From the Lord

“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:  “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish…

During the boat trip to Tarshish, the Lord created a violent storm causing all those onboard to be fearful of dying. Once the crew of the boat determined that it was Jonah’s sin that caused the storm, they did as Jonah requested and threw him overboard.

The biblical story of Jonah clearly relates that our sin not only causes pain in our life but it can destroy our loved ones and others in our life. Every person on board that boat was threatened because of Jonah’s disobedience to God.

It is a sad reality to know that we can take our family and freinds down with us due to our ungodly behavior and disobedience. Many times we try to justify our sin so that we can keep doing the things we want to do. But the Lord cannot tolerate any amount of sin and that is why He provided a way to wash away our sin. When we ask for forgiveness and then repent, meaning we turn from doing it again, we are in right standing with God and he will protect us going forward. We will still suffer the consequences of our past behavior, but we can be confident that as we follow the Lord’s teachings and direction we will be protected.

God Protected Jonah After He Admitted His Sin

After Jonah admitted his sin and was thrown overboard by the crew of the boat, the storm abated which protected those on the ship. God also protected Jonah by sending a large fish to swallow him up.

“Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

When we are suffering the consequences of our choices, the Lord will comfort us if we cry out to Him. He doesn’t wait until we get our life back on track, we simply need to cry out to Him for the help we need. The Lord  then guides us towards the better life- one protected and blessed by Him. A life with supernatural help and joy despite our circumstances.

“From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.  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.”(Jonah 2:1-2)

God asks all of us to do things contrary to our will and contrary to the ways of the world. If we use our faith in Him to trust that His leading is best, we will find out down the road, that God’s plan is perfect. The sooner we listen and obey however, the more blessings we will receive.

Blessings For Obedience

 “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today…All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God…”(Deut 28:1-2)

Jonah eventually obeyed, yet was unhappy that the Lord forgave the Ninnevites and they suffered no consequences due to their wickedness. This poor attitude allowed Jonah to encounter yet another harsh situation to teach him that we should simply be concerned with our own walk of  obedience.

 “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.  Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”(Prov 4:25-27)

Jonah concerned himself with the business of others and therefore he suffered.  For the complete story see here.

Food For Thought,

Lisa