Jonah - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) June 15, 2021

Many of us have heard from the Lord but did we obey His instructions?

Let's look at Jonah. God sent him to the Kingdom of Nineveh but he refused to go (Jonah 1:3). He instead went in the opposite direction only to end up on a sinking ship. Then he was tossed in the sea and scooped up by a sea creature, spending a few days until he submitted to the Lord and got spat out.

Just so we are clear, Jonah was already an established prophet and servant of God by the time this happened. This is according to Hebraic documents which note him as a prophet in the time of prophet Elisha. He was accustomed to hearing and supposedly obeying the voice of the Lord. However, in this case he chose to disobey because as he later confessed in Jonah 4:2, he knew that the Lord would extend his forgiving hand to the Ninevites - a key enemy of his people, the Israelites.

There are a few morals of this story - we need to obey God regardless of whether we like his instruction or not. We need to obey God regardless of what will happen once we do. We need to grow in our ability to hear and obey His voice, and when we get to that point we must not forget to be humble. We are his servants and He is our master. It's not the other way around.

The great thing is that our obedience will bring about grace and blessings for ourselves and the people around us. It also leads to His grace and blessings over our family and generations to come. Exodus 20:6 - but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

May God continue to teach us how to obey by His grace and to His glory IJMN Amen.

See you at Noon EST for today's Praise & Pray (for others) fellowship. God bless you.