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“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or
where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are
there; If I make my bed in hell,
behold, You are there. If I take the
wings of the morning, And dwell in the
uttermost parts of the sea, Even there
Your hand shall lead me, and Your
right hand shall hold me” (Psalm
139:7-10 NKJV).
God told Jonah to arise and go to
Nineveh. Well, he did very well with
the first part of the command; he
arose, but he didn’t go to Nineveh.
Instead he went to Joppa. He found a
ship going to Tarshish and “went down
into it from the presence of the Lord”
(Jonah 1:3). To leave the presence of
God is always a downward road. Jonah
had forgotten what David knew when he
wrote “Where can I go from Your
spirit? Or where can I flee from your
presence?” There was then and there
is now no escaping the presence of
Almighty God. There is absolutely no
hiding place. We cannot go where He
is not.
Jonah really turned his
back on God in rebellion and refused
to carry out the call of God to go and
warn Nineveh of impending destruction
because of their wickedness. He
descended into the lowest part of the
ship and went to sleep! You would
think that he would be deeply troubled
by his rebellion, but he lulled
himself to sleep by thinking he could
flee “from the presence of the Lord.”
He slept through his disobedience. He
didn’t even know a storm was brewing.
If Satan can rock us to
sleep and sidetrack us from the call
of God, we won’t be alert to the
storm. Samson found that out when he
woke up from his nap in Delilah’s lap
after she had cut his hair, breaking
his Nazarite covenant. He arose and
shook himself as before and was
shocked to learn that he had
compromised his strength for the lust
of the flesh.
God will use whatever
means necessary to awaken us to the
danger of being wayward. The sleeping
Jonah wasn’t aware of the danger he
and the ship’s occupants were in and
had to be awakened by the ship’s
captain. They had already cried out to
all the gods they knew and abandoned
their cargo to the sea trying to
appease the demon storm. The pagan
captain, who didn’t even know Jonah’s
God, had to tell Jonah to call on his
God to save them.
Our disobedience makes God
look powerless and weak to
unbelievers. Those who don’t know Him
judge God by what they see in us.
Paul said we were letters read by all
men. If the church goes to asleep, it
will appear that God is sleeping too.
He is the Head and we are His body and
do His acts here on earth in the
visible presence of the world. Our
heads make decisions, but they need
our bodies to carry out the actions.
The body of Christ must be busy about
the Kingdom’s business, obeying what
God has instructed us to do so the
world will know God is not asleep but
sees and knows all.
When Jonah realized he was
the cause of the storm that was about
to shipwreck them, he made a decision
to be cast overboard to save the ship
and passengers. He was no longer
sleeping! We can take comfort in what
happened next. God knew that Jonah
was going to attempt to hide from Him
in the ship, so He had a “great fish”
prepared to rescue Jonah. It didn’t
seem like a safety net during the
three days he was jostled in the
fish’s belly amid the sea weeds in the
depths. He cried out to God, “I have
been cast out of your sight.” He was
in deep trouble and knew it. Then he
“remembered the Lord."
After his ordeal in the depths of the
sea, Jonah was ready to pick up his
ministry where he left it —preach
God’s warning to Nineveh. God’s first
choice for Jonah was for him to go
directly to Nineveh, not the
circuitous route he took. We could
save ourselves a lot of pain and
serious trouble by obeying God at the
onset of His call.
God’s first choice for us
is “Beloved, I pray that you may
prosper in all things and be in
health, just as your soul prospers” (3
John 2 NKJV). He is a loving Heavenly
Father and wants the best for us.
Initially, God blessed Israel “coming
and going” (read Deuteronomy 28).
When that didn’t turn their hearts to
serve Him exclusively, He allowed them
to be tried and tested by different
undesirable means for the purpose of
winning their hearts and loyal worship
which would be for their own
salvation.
Jonah could have avoided
the whale’s belly by just doing his
job. He could have had the
satisfaction, without the sea trauma,
of knowing he was instrumental in
leading the whole city to worship His
God. They called a fast from the
lowliest peasant to the king and
repented, causing God to extend mercy
and grace instead of judgment because
of Jonah’s sermon. Jonah could have
completely avoided walking the plank
into the ocean into the gaping mouth
of the fish and ending up “in the
whale’s belly.”
Thankfully, mercy lets us
pray in the whale’s belly. We have
all been “cast out” because of our
sins. It is tragic to think about
people who are lost in the bottom of
the sinking ship, fast asleep, doomed
and destined for eternity without God
and totally unaware of the danger
because they have ignored God. We
need to awaken them to the danger and
show them how they can be rescued
before their ship sinks. God will
hear every prayer no matter how deep
the fish has taken us and Grace will
bring us to the shore with
restoration, not because we deserve it
but by His Grace and Mercy. Jonah
wasn’t saved because he deserved it,
but by Grace and Mercy in action. God
knew where he was all the time and
held him in His love until he woke up.
Don’t wait so long in
rebellion or hesitant service that God
has to let your ship sink or have a
great fish swallow you. Avoid the
whale’s belly by obeying the call of
God to go first to Calvary and if
necessary to Nineveh. The next stop
will be Home!
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Points to
Ponde
 Everyone
is called to
be a witness
for Jesus.
God assigns
our stations,
and then it is
up to us to go
where duty
calls and
faithfully
serve. That
doesn’t
necessarily
mean Africa or
some other
foreign place;
it may be
where we get
up in the
morning or
where we work
or play.
Obedience
makes it
easier to
serve at our
post.
Obedience is a
sweet savor to
God and makes
life sweet for
us! Hardships
may come and,
we might find
ourselves
sailing on a
rough sea with
great fish;
but to know we
are in God’s
will produces
peace in the
midst of the
turmoil. It
might be
necessary to
dump some of
our “stuff”
overboard, but
we will just
be rewarded
more
abundantly.
The
circuitous
route Jonah
took, like
Israel on the
way to the
promise land,
was due to his
disobedience
and lack of
faith in God.
He didn’t
follow the
Plan, but he
thought he was
safe going to
Tarshish “from
the presence
of the Lord.”
Jonah
ended up where
he was
supposed to go
but not before
he had gone
through a
“whale” of a
lot of
trouble. He
found it
wasn’t
possible to go
“from the
presence of
the Lord.”
Other
people are
dependent on
us to fulfill
our ministry
faithfully,
even if they
don’t know
it. When we
fail God, it
affects other
people’s lives
as well. We
really are
“our brother’s
keeper.”
Like
the prodigal
son who “came
to himself” in
the pig sty,
Jonah reckoned
with his
dilemma in the
belly of a
fish, fighting
seaweed. It
was time to
move. God was
ready with the
remedy as soon
as Jonah was
ready to obey.
Jonah
could have
been home much
sooner if he
had taken a
direct route
to Nineveh
instead of
trying to go
to Tarshish.
He didn’t make
it to his
intended
destination;
God rearranged
his itinerary.
The
sin of
disobedience
will take you
farther than
you wanted to
go, charge you
more than you
intended to
pay, keep you
longer than
you intended
to stay and
require more
from you to
leave than you
expected.
God
is a
second-chance
God, again and
again. All He
wants is a
repentant
heart that
loves Him even
when it’s
going the
wrong way, but
willing to
reverse the
direction.
David
was a man
close to God’s
heart because
God saw him as
a man “who
will do all My
will” (Acts
13:22). We
may not do it
perfectly, but
if we are
willing and
obedient to
follow the
Lord, He will
see us as
perfect;
because He
sees Jesus in
us.
Don’t
be afraid to
go where He
sends you;
He’ll be
there!
"Vaja con Dios"
(Go With God)!
.....Delores.....
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HE’LL BE THERE
He’ll be there
when our
friends are
gone.
He’ll be there
when we’re all
alone.
He’ll be there
when harsh
words are
spoken.
He’ll be there
when our
hearts are
broken.
He’ll be
there.
He’ll be there
when we
sometimes
stumble.
He’ll be there
when our
dreams all
crumble.
He’ll be there
when the earth
is quaking.
He’ll be there
when fear has
us shaking.
He’ll be
there.
He’ll be there
when love
again abounds.
He’ll be there
when our
friends are
all around.
He’ll be there
when our
hearts have
mended.
He’ll be there
when our star
has ascended.
He’ll be
there.
He’ll be there
when our steps
are sure.
He’ll be there
when our faith
is pure.
He’ll be there
when the our
world calms
down.
He’ll be there
when our faith
comes ‘round.
He’ll be
there.
He’ll be there
when the
trumpet
sounds.
He’ll be there
when we leave
the ground.
He’ll be there
when all the
saints arise.
He’ll be there
when we reach
the skies.
He’ll be
there!
He’ll be there
when all our
trials are
o’er.
He’ll be
there!
He’ll be there
when we walk
Heaven’s
shore.
He’ll be
there!
~~Delores~~
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Index to *Recent* Pages
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