Sunday Mornin' Hope : Jonah and Second Chances

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH5NEDzv-os


One of the strangest books of the Bible is also one of the shortest. It also has the oddest endings. It is the book of Jonah. It has 4 short chapters and shows man's heart versus God's mercy and grace. There must be a good reason that God put this book in the middle of the Bible.

When we don't understand something we have a tendency to hate or reject it. In high school I did very well in music classes, but my math classes were horrible. I saw no reason for pie r squared. When am I going to use the circumference of anything in working on my guitars? My dad was a mining engineer and math was his life. I guess it came naturally for him. Well Jonah has some excellent treasures for us to glean and keep for our lives.


First let's look at Jonah. We are alot like him. We want our ways. We are selfish and stubborn. OK maybe this doesn't apply to you. You might be unselfish and always preferring others over you. I take my helmet off to you. But when someone asks me to do something I don't have skills for; I resist in every way. A few years ago I was asked to get involved in jail ministry. NO WAY!! What would I do if they all came at me with knives?? (My biggest accident was when a moth flew in my face and I wrecked my dad's Old's 88.) So being asked to visit murderers, thieves, druggies was definately our of my comfort zone. Within a month I was made one of the chaplains and was hooked on going there 4 times a week. God might be calling you into an area that you're not comfortable with. Will you resist Him and run away like Jonah or embrace His plan for your life. Jonah naturally ran away. He bought a boat ticket going the opposite direction. I probably would have too. Nineveh had 120,000 people and a bad reputation. They would filet people they didn't like and strap them to the outside walls of the city. So Noah thought he could hide from God. But God knows exactly where we are. David wrote:

Ps 139:8 -
If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

You could take roll call on the other side of Beetelgeese and say "God?" and He'd say "Here." He's everywhere. And He's not mad at you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3kTf8-i0FE


Sometimes God will let you walk in rebellion for a season then capture your heart in an odd way. He might have to put you somewhere to get your attention. After three days in the belly of a great fish Jonah came to his senses. Even there, God heard his cry and made the whale toss him on the beach. Jonah then preached to the city and they actually repented. That greatly disapointed Jonah. He wanted to see a re-inactment of Sodom/Gomorrah.


Let's look at God's mercy and grace. Mercy means NOT getting what you deserve. God coulda shoulda burned up the wicked city of Nineveh. What's one city over in Assyria gonna matter? God had other plans. He desired to give Jonah and the city a second chance. Why? Because His love looks past our failures and faults. When someone curses, God doesn't fall off His throne and get lightning bolts ready. When we make mistrakes, God doesn't scratch our names out of the 'book of life'. Thank God for that.

2Co 12:9 -
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.


Grace is the ability to do what we couldn't otherwise do. 1. Favor; good will; kindness; disposition to oblige another; as a grant made as an act of grace.



God's grace goes beyond our scales. We can't measure it on our scales. It's "yuge" as my son used to say.


Eph 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.



God has given many of us a second chance. Maybe there was a time that you were late for a meeting. In your haste to get there, you come up on a horrible wreck. If you had been on time, that might have been you. Maybe you were riding too fast on a curve or a tire blows out and normally it would've taken you out. Yet, you're still here. God gives second chances. Maybe you feel unworthy of His grace. You are. But that is another post. I encourage you today to give your heart to Jesus Christ. We're not promised tomorrow. Remember I'm praying for you. Make this the best week of your life! Stay warm and watch out for snow and whales.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf6f-8Kd50Y

thanks dino

Sure am glad there are people who don't use their share of His mercy and grace. I receive waaaayy more than I deserve, Thank You Lord!
As usual Dino, thanks for the corrective nudge in the right direction.