Passage for meditation is Jonah chapter 1 verses 1 to 17.
– The book of Jonah (verse 1) starts with an interruption in the life of Jonah where God asks him to go to Nineveh. And the first thing Jonah does is disobey God and go to exactly the opposite direction. (verse 2)
– Many times, God interferes or causes a disturbance in our lives for a greater purpose. If we can discern the interruptions of God, we can reroute our lives towards God’s best for us. E.g.: Young Mary’s (Jesus mother) life was re-routed by God’s interruption. The season when she was preparing for her wedding to settle in life, God sends an angel, gives her the good news of carrying a baby and thus interrupts her entire life forever.
– Age, Social status, finances etc is never a criterion for God to reroute our lives.
We can learn few lessons from the way Jonah responded to God which are as below;
- Sin is intentional: Here when God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh, He purposely planned his travel to Tarshish which is in the opposite direction forgetting the omnipresence of the powerful God who called him.
- Sin makes us crazy: In other words, sin makes us think foolishly. Here Jonah is trying to run away from God forgetting the fact that God is an omniscient God, that God is everywhere, and He can never escape the presence of God.
- Sin is costly:Whenever we sin, there is always a price to be paid. Jonah purchased the tickets and chose to travel to Tarshish.
To conclude, we can see that God brings a series of interruptions in the life of Jonah which are as follows;
– God calls Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh, but he chooses to do the opposite and run away to a place called Tarshish.
– God sends a storm in the sea on Jonah’s way to Tarshish and interrupts his journey.
– The giant whale swallows Jonah who was thrown into the sea as a result of the storm.
God has a mission for each one of our lives and He calls us accordingly, but God is also always concerned more about the missionary over the mission. God is not just particular about the process but also about the person involved the process.
God cared for Jonah although he ran away from his God given mission/calling. Always realise that God cares for you too. God cared for Jonah before He gave the mission call to Jonah, God cared for him even when he ran away for the mission hence He commanded the giant whale to swallow Jonah than to let him drown in the sea.
What mission has God called you for? Is it difficult for you to accomplish it? Pray and ask God to strengthen you and help you. And in the midst of all the storms of your life be assured that God cares for you and is with you. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, and He is faithful in fulfilling all His promises.
The quality of our spiritual life is does not reflect the inability of God but our ability to obey or disobey God.
By Pastor Sunil
