God's Patience with His Children
"Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish."
Jonah 1:3
Few Old Testament personalities are as transparent as the prophet Jonah. We can see right through him. And most of what we see we don't like. He reminds us too much of ourselves: fearful, selfish, spiteful, and proud.
Jonah's call to service began disastrously. We don't know why he chose to flee from his assignment to preach to Nineveh, but we can guess that fear was the main motivation. Instead of staying, Jonah imagined that if he put an even greater distance between himself and Nineveh, God would give up and choose someone else. But Jonah greatly underestimated God's determination that Jonah would fulfil his mission.
Encountering a violent storm on the way to Tarshish, Jonah at last realized that fighting God's will was useless. Rather than risk the lives of the other travelers, he insisted that he be thrown overboard, where he was swallowed by a great fish. But Jonah was not finished. God used this time of solitary confinement to encourage Jonah's repentance and recommitment. Three days later, Jonah was released, ready to begin the work he was called to do.
God's patience with us is amazing. Even though we run and rebel, he patiently corrects us and places us back on course. Even so, we should not test God's mercy. It is always better to do what he asks the first time.
God will do whatever it takes to bring us back to him.
from "365 Life Lessons From Bible People"
That's one of my favorite stories from the Bible. There's sometimes a little Jonah inside of me who tries to run away from the things God wants me to do. Fortunately God's very patient with me and He always shows me a way and I trust in Him. I just have to listen and obey...
Jonah 1:3
Few Old Testament personalities are as transparent as the prophet Jonah. We can see right through him. And most of what we see we don't like. He reminds us too much of ourselves: fearful, selfish, spiteful, and proud.
Jonah's call to service began disastrously. We don't know why he chose to flee from his assignment to preach to Nineveh, but we can guess that fear was the main motivation. Instead of staying, Jonah imagined that if he put an even greater distance between himself and Nineveh, God would give up and choose someone else. But Jonah greatly underestimated God's determination that Jonah would fulfil his mission.
Encountering a violent storm on the way to Tarshish, Jonah at last realized that fighting God's will was useless. Rather than risk the lives of the other travelers, he insisted that he be thrown overboard, where he was swallowed by a great fish. But Jonah was not finished. God used this time of solitary confinement to encourage Jonah's repentance and recommitment. Three days later, Jonah was released, ready to begin the work he was called to do.
God's patience with us is amazing. Even though we run and rebel, he patiently corrects us and places us back on course. Even so, we should not test God's mercy. It is always better to do what he asks the first time.
God will do whatever it takes to bring us back to him.
from "365 Life Lessons From Bible People"
That's one of my favorite stories from the Bible. There's sometimes a little Jonah inside of me who tries to run away from the things God wants me to do. Fortunately God's very patient with me and He always shows me a way and I trust in Him. I just have to listen and obey...
posted by Leenda at
1:21 AM
3 Comments:
Hey, I like this reminder, Leenda! I don't think about Jonah very often, I guess.... But he's a good example of how we should never avoid something simply because we're afraid of it. God has been trying to teach me this lesson quite frequently lately. It's a bit frustrating sometimes, because I've never considered myself to be a fearful person. And I don't always want to admit it when he shows me that I'm afraid of doing or saying something! But I'm slowly starting to learn not to avoid what I fear.
I usually identify more with Peter, at least at the beginning of his journey of faith. The whole open-mouth-before-thinking thing. Gets me in trouble all the time. ;o)
By
thegermanygirl, at 12/22/2004 12:00 AM
P.S. Here's the pic I was telling you and Marionuschka about:
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/c/o/courtney/garden1ew.jpg.html
Big hugs!
C.
By
thegermanygirl, at 12/22/2004 12:49 AM
I'm sure that "Leenda" is definitely a synonym for the "open-mouth-before-thinking thing" if you were looking it up in an encyclopedia. The big problem is that people can get hurt by that very much. In situations like this I try to remember what James said in 1:19... Everyone should be quick to listen, SLOW TO SPEAK and slow to become angry,... (Well, I often have problems with all the three of it but I'm working on it)
And thanks for the link to the picture. It looks awesome and I really like the way you painted the frame. Now we know who to ask when we need a "Jugendstil-Rahmen" for some of our pictures ;o)
Bigger hugs back
By
Leenda, at 12/23/2004 1:43 AM
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