“Fish guts and seaweed… the price of disobedience.”

All of us have “missed the mark” sometime during our life. I don’t believe there is a person alive, a Christian, who can say that they “never disobeyed the Lord.” We have all done it, and as soon as we do it, we know we have messed up! The case of Jonah is a great story of disobedience… “God’s punishment to His child” and “His mercy and forgiveness…”

Jonah was commissioned by the Lord to go to the city of Nin-e-veh and “prophesy” against it! This may seem easy to some people, but it would be like going to “a street gang” in New York and telling them that “God doesn’t want them doing drugs, stealing, and killing.” And “by the way, stay away from prostitutes!”  We would surely try to get out of this one!

Like Jonah, we sometimes think that we actually can “run from the Spirit of God” or “give Him an excuse,” but we have nowhere to hide. Jonas was afraid to “obey the Lord,” but the consequences of “not obeying” would be worse than simply “obeying.”

God wanted to give Nin-e-veh a chance to repent and He wanted to use Jonah to preach His Word. But Jonah decided to take a “boat trip” away from the Spirit of God… the opposite direction of Nineveh. Have you ever done the “opposite” of what God told you to do? You know the story… Jonah was thrown overboard by the sailors and was swallowed up by a great fish (a whale) that God had prepared. God knew how to get Jonah to be obedient… just give him “three days of hell” in the bottom of the whale! On about the third day, waist-high in smelly fish guts, vomiting, and with seaweed wrapped around his head, he decided to “obey was better than sacrifice!” The whale “threw up” Jonah on dry land and off he went to Nin-e-veh to preach the Word of God! The “Nin-e-vites” repented and served the Lord, and Jonah stayed on the “good side of God.”

We will always be tossed about a decision concerning the Lord, but if it is to glorify the Lord, or giving someone a chance to hear the Word, or blessing someone with an offering, or even something that might seem “strange to you…” if it keeps tugging at your heart, it is the Lord. For “… to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken (listen) than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)

So, even if you “think it’s God,” just do it! God sees your heart and He can always get you “back on track!”

Sherry