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Daily eMail Devotional
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Jonah 3:1-10: And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.As a young Christian I remember hearing the story of Jonah in a way that teaches us not to disobey God. Jonah describes his situation and acknowledges that he has been in God’s hands throughout his drowning in the sea and then finally realizes that he needs to listen to what God says in its entirety. Nevertheless, wherever we find ourselves we can span the great distance between God and us through prayer. We can pray to God in the midst of a tense business meeting, in our marital strife, in a dark alley, or in a foxhole. When we pray we are not only asking for his guidance but also for wisdom on being a Christian testimony or being a missionary in the office.
I remember a few years ago when some men from our church in Germany drove several hours to Romania to go on a mission trip and be an encouragement to a missionary. Hearing about the living conditions and the number of roommates I was starting to get nervous and reluctant to go, especially when I heard about riding in a van with 5 other men for over 30 straight hours. There was not much that sounded “enjoyable” about this trip, yet the second we entered the van, after I was told that I would be driving first while the rest of the men slept, I started to have a great time and I received a bigger blessing than the Romanians received from us. Like Jonah I was getting discouraged and thinking of excuses to go but my wife kept encouraging me to. My wife encouraged in a way that she was telling me to go, just like God telling Jonah to go. She knew the enjoyment level I would have. God also knew the joy that Jonah would have. Still, driving through this 3rd world country with mountain roads that were covered in snow and without any guardrails at night I was continuously thinking about turning back, I am sure that Jonah was thinking of turning back, even after he finally went and preached.
In Christ,
Bro. John Kiehl
Don't Forget -
