Saying and Doing

The sailors said to him, "Tell us, whose fault is it that this disaster has overtaken us?  What's your occupation?  Where do you come from?  What's your country?  And who are your people?"  He said to them, "I am Hebrew!  And I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and dry land."  Hearing this, the men became even more afraid and said to him, "What have you done?"  (The men said this because they knew that he was trying to escape from the Lord, because he had previously told them.)  Jonah 1:8-10

In the New International Bible translation, verse 9 in the above passage reads as, "He said to them, 'I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.'"

Notice how Jonah states that he "fears the Lord"? But yet, isn't the Lord exactly the one from whom Jonah is running?

How often in our own lives do we state one thing and do the complete opposite? I'm afraid that I do this more than I probably care to admit.

• Yes, I fully trust in God! -- Do I really always FULLY trust in God?  If so, then why do I doubt, why do I try to take matters into my own hands, why do I worry?
• Yes, I want to share God's love with others! -- But, do I?  Do my actions show that?  Do I take time out of my day to be kind to my neighbors and SHOW them God's love in all my actions?

These are just a few examples, but how I respond to them speaks volumes to me about how I speak one thing, but don't always follow through and show that I truly believe what I said.

Can you imagine being one of the sailors on the ship with Jonah?  They are scared and fearing for their very lives.  They ask Jonah who he is and what is his profession.  He responds that he is a prophet and that he worships and fears God.  But yet, he has already told them that is running from the very thing that God asked him to do.   I believe if I was one of those sailors that I would be questioning how much Jonah really worshipped and feared God.

The same is true in the words we say and how we follow thru in our actions.  The world is watching.  God has called us to be a witness to the world.  What we say and how we live those words is so important to that witness. 

How many times do you hear people say they don't attend church because they know how the church members act when they are outside the church doors?  I am saddened when I hear those words for I know that, unfortunately, there is truth spoken.  Sometimes, we barely make it to the church parking lot after services before we act in unkind and ungodly ways.

Take some time today to really focus on what you believe and how you live out those beliefs.  If you say you fear God, do you?  Are you, like Jonah, instead running away from God?

Sleeping thru the Storm

"But the Lord hurled a powerful wind on the sea. Such a violent tempest arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break up! The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god and they flung the ship's cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep. The ship's captain approached him and said, "What are you doing asleep? Get up! Cry out to your god! Perhaps your god might take notice of us so that we might not die!" The sailors said to one another, "Come on, let's cast lots to find out whose fault it is that this disaster has overtaken us." So they cast lots, and Jonah was singled out." Jonah 1:4-7

I've always wondered how Jonah could possibly sleep thru a storm of this magnitude.  The winds are howling and the boat is being tossed wildly to and fro.  The sailors are scared, tossing the ship's cargo overboard and calling out to their gods to save them.

Yet, thru it all, Jonah continues to sleep.  Maybe because the storm was nothing in comparison to the battle Jonah was fighting within? Perhaps sleep was Jonah's way of "turning off" the storm raging inside him as he tried to run as far from God as he could?

We'll never know for sure why Jonah was able to sleep, but it does serve as an analogy of how many Christians carelessly sleep each day.  Here's a few examples I found while reading more on this scripture at Enduring Word:

· Jonah slept where he hoped he would not be found -- the sleeping Christian tries to hide at church
· Jonah slept in a place where he couldn't help with the work to be done -- the sleeping Christian will stay away from the work of God
· Jonah slept during a prayer meeting up on the deck -- sleeping Christians don't like attending prayer meetings.
· Jonah slept with no idea of the problems around him -- sleeping Christians don’t know what is going on
· Jonah slept when he was in great danger -- sleeping Christians are in danger and don't even know it
· Jonah slept while the heathen needed him -- sleeping Christians sleep on while the world needs their message and testimony


I read thru these and find myself really trying to see if I fall into any of these areas.  I know I'm not as open and aware to the world around me.  I want to be... I really do.  It will be something to pray about in the days ahead.

Let's not be a sleeping Christian in a world that needs our Lord so very much!  Let's pray and seek God and allow Him to "wake us up" and lead us where we can share His undying love, His grace, His mercy, and His hope to the world we live in today.

Running Away

So, last week I just kind of jumped into this full force.  I asked myself, and you, some rather tough questions....

"Would we be willing to take God's word to our mightiest of enemies?"
"Would we follow God's calling no matter where it led?"
"Would we go no matter how scarry it may seem?"

I started here primarily because it's where I was as I began studying the first chapter of Jonah. I couldn't help but question myself as to whether or not I would follow in the same type of situation. Would I go to such an evil city and share God's word, or would I be so scared to follow that I would run in the complete opposite direction facing other fears along the way?


In the first three verses of the book of Jonah, we find God speaking to Jonah regarding the journey to Ninevah.

The Lord said to Jonah son of Amittai, "Go immediately to Nineveh, that large capital city, and announce judgment against its people because their wickedness has come to my attention." Instead, Jonah immediately headed off to Tarshish to escape from the commission of the Lord. He traveled to Joppa and found a merchant ship heading to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard it to go with them to Tarshish far away from the Lord. Jonah 1:1-3


A few interesting tidbits I found as I studied these verses.....

• In the Hebrew, God is literally commanding Jonah to "arise".  However, if we read in the King James translation of Jonah 1:3, we find that Jonah "rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."  That's right, Jonah did "rise up" as God commanded, but he rises up to then go DOWN to Joppa and DOWN into the boat.  The words paint a good picture of the situation, don't they?
• For an Israelite, Joppa represented the edge of the earth.  Additionally, many people of this time were fearful of the sea.  So, for Jonah to run to Joppa and then to also get on a boat showed the total deperation and desire to escape that was felt by Jonah.

As I read it struck me for the first time how completely desperate Jonah was to do ANYTHING if it meant he wouldn't wind up in Ninevah.  Oh, I realized he wanted nothing to do with Ninevah, but he faced some pretty big fears in where and how he chose to run, as well.  That was the part that I really hadn't thought about previously

I keep going over that in my mind.  So afraid to follow God as to be willing to face other fears. 

Fears that are completely unnecessary to face if I follow God. 

Fears that are completely unnecessary to face if I trust God and believe that he only has my best interests in mind.


If I truly believe the words of Jeremiah 29:11, do I turn the opposite direction and run as far away as I can get from God?

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Jeremiah 29:11

I can't tell you how often this has replayed in my mind over the last week or so.  We humans tend to not react completely rationally when we are scared.  Therefore, it is possible that I would run away from God and wind up facing fears that are alot bigger than where God is leading.
The one thing I keep coming back to over and over and over again, though, is this.....  if I believe all that I say I believe about God, and if I fully trust that He means what He says, then I will follow regardless. 

If I have a relationship with Him and keep Him as my priority, then I won't question and I won't risk falling prey to those very human tendencies to run away.  I will follow. 

Yes, I will probably be scared and there is a good chance that in the beginning I won't want any part of it.

But, if it is God leading, then He will show the way, he will carry the fears and the worries, and He will lead me to where I should go.  He will guide me and direct me and show me the joys to be had by making the journey.

Second Chances

Each day we find ourselves making decisions that determine whether or not we follow the path the Lord asks us to walk. Each day we either walk a step further or we find reasons to stay right where we are on the path.

Do we walk over to that person standing all alone looking lonely and confused, introduce ourselves and see if we can offer a hand? Or, do we walk away?

Do we give up all that we know, quit our jobs and move to another country to share God with people that have never heard? Or, do we continue on our current path in a place where all is familiar?

Obviously, each of the examples are at the extreme ends of the spectrum. The first may only effect the next hour or so of our lives and mean we may not get all accomplished that we had planned on that day. The second changes the course of our lives and that of our families for, quite possibly, the remainder of our days here on earth. Each affects the world around us and involves the sharing of God's love with others.

Imagine you are Jonah... God has asked you to go to another city and give them a message straight from Him. This city isn't just any city either. It is Ninevah -- Israel's archenemy. Everything in Jonah tells him he should run the other direction (which, as we know, is exactly what he does). At the very least he feared they would laugh in his face. At the very worst, they could harm him or his homeland of Israel. (A biblical description of Ninevah can be found in Nahumn 3:1-19.)

What if they repented of their sins after hearing Jonah's preaching? That could lead to the success of these enemies of Israel. A example would be to imagine a NATO soldier being called to help the Taliban. Not something we're likely to see, huh?

Yet, that is exactly what God was calling Jonah to do. Go and offer to help the people of Ninevah. Go and tell them how they, too, can receive a 2nd chance. It goes strongly goes against how our very human feelings lead us to act, doesn't it? As humans, it is not always our first instinct to offer 2nd chances. Unfortunately, many times our first response is that we want to see our enemies hurt in the same way we hurt.

My kids have the DVD of the Veggie Tales version of Jonah's story. At the end, it tells us that "God is a God of second chances". As Christians we know that to be true, but do we extend that same grace to our enemies? Do we want to be a party to our enemies receiving that same grace?

I have always believed God's grace and mercy extended to EVERYONE... even to our mightiest of enemies. However, what if God asked me to go to my mightiest enemy and proclaim God's love? What is God asked me to go and share of a love so strong and so powerful and so full of grace that they too could experience eternal life? What would I do?

How about you? What would you do? What if you were that NATO soldier being asked to go help the Taliban?

The "Full Story"

Have you ever been afraid if you follow God completely that He might take you to the place you like the least?  Have you ever felt you can't trust God?

My first semester in college, my family made a move to another state.  It was difficult for me -- I didn't want to live there and I fought it tooth and nail.  However, God had other plans.  Turns out it WAS the best place for me and my family.  I grew and I matured, both as a young adult and as a Christian.  I can guarantee that my parents and each of my sisters would say we are where we are now because of that move.  That experience shaped us and formed us into the people we are today.

What I couldn't see initially, though, was the big picture.  All I saw was that I was being asked to move away from all my friends.  I was being told that I was now living in a big and unfamiliary city instead of the small town where I had graduated from high school.  The physcial move actually happened during my first semester in college..... I went home for Thanksgiving to a place I had never been before and I place I did not want to be.

The big picture, though?  God knew there was a particular church there just waiting for me.  A church full of special people that pulled me in (and, in the beginning, they literally pulled!), they befriended me, and they loved me.  They supported me as I graduated college and started my first job, moved into my first apartment (along with another dear friend I had met in that church) and as I met my future husband and moved away to be closer to him.  They supported me in my Christian walk and prayed with me. Thru that first job I had out of college, God gave me many experiences that helped me to grow.  And, he even led me to my husband in that first job in that city I never wanted to move to in the first place.

God proved himself faithful, full of grace and compassion.  He showed me that above all He loved me and only had my best interests in mind.  But, I first had to allow God to work and I had to get a few miles or so down the road in the journey to see the full story.

The story of Jonah is like that, too.  If we only look at the first chapter, we see a God that tells Jonah to go to a city he didn't like and to warn people he didn't like of impending judgment.  Jonah runs the other way and winds up in the belly of a whale.  From that alone, we don't see what many would perceive to be a loving God, do we?

But, if we read on to the end and get the full story, we see a God that is loving and compassionate, full of grace and mercy.  In Jonah 4:2 we read of a God that is "gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment" .



I've started a study on the book of Jonah and am looking forward to all God has for me as I read more about the "big picture".  I hope you'll join me as I study and share.  I'm planning to start out by reading the full book of Jonah, then diving a little deeper into shorter passages one at a time.  I'm using the study guide from the "Coffee Cup Bible Series" by Sandra Glahn entitled "Kona with Jonah".

I'll be back next week with some more after I've read the "full story"! :)