DAY 353

WHEN YOU GO 180°OPPOSITE GOD

Jonah and Revelation 10

OK, so hold that thought we regards to Revelation 10. I will write about Revelation 10 and 11 tomorrow. Today I want to talk about Jonah. It is a story that I can relate to.

Jonah is told to go to Nineveh. Jonah hates Nineveh and all its inhabitants. Why? Because this is the capital of Assyria, these are the people who captured and dragged off the Israelites. These, you might say, are the sworn enemies of Jonah. He would be happy if God smote them!

God has other plans; he always does. God’s plan is that everyone comes home, even our enemies. It requires that stubborn and proud hearts repent, and the Ninevites did.

Jonah resists his God-given mission. He gets on a ship and heads in the exact opposite direction – literally. So what happens, not just to Jonah, but to those on the ship? They get caught up in the storm of sin. This happens today. When you are around people who sin, you get caught up in it—you literally end up in storms that you had nothing to do with save the people you find yourself in the company of. This is real. We need to pay attention to who we are hanging out with. Yes Jesus hung out with sinners, but Jesus knew he was and he was ready for it. We too should hang out with people who need God, and yes we should be prepared for it. Back to Jonah.

So after a date and a detour with a fish, Jonah goes and proclaims God’s message…and it works! Jonah is not happy, and here is a wonderful interaction between God and Jonah compliments of a small shade tree. How many times are we not happy with God?

Take a moment and see if you can locate events and episodes in your life that correlate to this story…and remember God loved Jonah and he loves you…the point is to obey Him, it always goes better that way.