Jonah tried to run away from the Lord. The Lord protected Jonah (Jonah
1:17). The Lord hadn’t given up on Jonah. God had a purpose for Jonah.
What a great purpose it was! The call of God (Jonah 1:1-2) wasn’t obeyed
by Jonah – but the call of God remained. God was still planning to use
Jonah to bring great blessing to the people of Nineveh. Jonah’s attempt
to go to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3) was a detour – but God had not forgotten
His plan for Jonah. The “big fish” was the beginning of God’s way of
getting Jonah to the place where He wanted him to be. The “three days
and three nights” were God’s way of getting Jonah ready for being His
faithful and fruitful servant. In this time of preparation for service,
there is prayer (Jonah 2:1-10). Jonah’s prayer was preparing the way for
revival in Nineveh.
We read about Elijah in his high-points of strength - the triumph over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:36-39) - and his low-points of weakness - he is ready to give up: “I’ve had enough now, Lord” (1 Kings 19:4). How did Elijah get into such a mess? He forgot this: “The Lord’s power was on Elijah” (1 Kings 18:46). In all life’s ups and downs, we must hold on to this: The Lord has sent His Spirit of power to live in us (2 Timothy 1:7). How are we to live in the power of the Spirit? We need to feed on the Word of God and drink in the Word of God (1 Kings 17:4). We need to pray that the Lord will send His showers of blessing (1 Kings 17:14). We are to live our life “according to the Word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:16). For our life of faith to be strong in the Lord, we need to listen attentively to the preaching of God’s Word (1 Kings 17:24).
Comments
Post a Comment