Lesson 2

The storms in our lives both past and present forces us to look further into Jonah’s response to blatantly disregard God’s instruction. Jonah’s remedy for disobedience was to do the impossible; which was to run from the presence of God. How many times have we tried this impossible task? God said at the end of Hebrews 13:5, “……Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” In Psalm 139:7-11 the psalmist says, “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. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me, Even the night shall be light about me.” Can we run from Him? Well, let’s not beat up too much on Jonah because he did not have a Bible like us to read these truths daily.

But God does not and have not given up on any us. In 2 Peter 3: 9 he clearly states, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” An open invitation to those who do not yet believe. And as Jonah, we try to sleep or numb away our responsibilities, our fears, our pain, our hurts, our hang-ups, and even our disobedience. But God….He will finish what he has started and here comes the ‘storm….our divine wake up call’.

In the midst of our self-sabotage behaviors that causes the storm, those in our immediate vicinity are affected. Our loved ones who are close by and do not understand the origin of the storm in their lives, throw their stuff overboard in desperation. Our support system…yes, they throw everything they have overboard while enabling us in our disobedient behavior. But God in his sovereignty uses our disobedience for them to know that He is the true God. The men on the ship prayed to their gods and the storm got worse. But when Jonah told them about the true living and almighty God, they cried unto Him, threw Jonah overboard, and the storm immediately ceased.

What is the storm in your life today? An addiction, lack of self-control, lack of finances, a health condition, a failed test, the loss of a loved one, a divorce, a judge’s decision, imprisonment? Whatever the storm, its’ purpose is to serve as ‘our divine wake up call’ similar to that of Jonah. The good news (which is what the gospel is) is that the God of the universe is a God of mercy and grace. Based on our past and present disobedience we are still alive to make things right. As we reflect on what got us to this point, we know that there are some specific things that the storms in our lives are telling us to do. Let’ get to it! You think about it!

Today let us not forget the tragedy of 911 and those who lost and sacrificed their lives.

In my next blog we will continue to look at the effects of disobedience in Jonah’s life and compare it to ours.

Good morning!

Remember, ‘nothing changes if nothing changes’ and ‘the same person will always use’.

Have a Blessed day in the Lord. You deserve it!

From the desk of Andy Ansola