Monday, June 13, 2016

Jonah 1:17 and Paragraph Summary (timely)


Jonah 1:17 and Paragraph Summary
1:17 - And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
Continuing from vs. 12, God had Jonah exactly where He wanted him in order to apply pin-point pressure on him to obey. Is that where you are? Has the general call to repentance, the confrontation by one, and the confrontation by many all been applied in your situation by God to turn you from your willfulness? The next step is isolation, isolation from God, from believers, from a lot of the goodness that flows from God.

Now the sinning believer is put into the crucible in order to turn him from his own way to God's way. It took three days of being in the dark, acid filled belly of the fish for Jonah to come to his senses. Most likely, when he saw that he wasn't going to die, like he wanted to, Jonah responded to God's will.

What about us? Is the only time we respond to God's will is under the threat of endless discipline without the escape of death? Are we so hard hearted and stubborn that we will only relent when the pressure becomes more than we can bear?

No comments: