Jonah 1:1-2, 17 (NKJV) Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it…. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
There will be friction when we choose not to submit to God’s calling, His will, and His plan for our lives. It is outright rebellion to the Lordship of Christ. One of the many lessons we can learn from the life of Jonah is, do not flee from God! There will be no peace, joy or rest in the soul when we know that we are running away from our responsibilities and the calling of God for our lives.
It is apparent that there was friction between the plan of God for Jonah and his response to the call. Jonah ran towards Tarshish when he was supposed to be heading to Nineveh! Jonah was going in the opposite direction to the west. The friction caused him to go through the storm, be thrown overboard, be swallowed by the whale, and spend three days and nights in the whale. It would have been much easier if he had submitted to the call of God and His instruction to go to Nineveh and tell the people there to turn from their wicked ways. The response of the people of Nineveh would have been between God and them—Jonah was just a messenger. However, Jonah refused to submit to God. Similarly, our character will also be moulded through the trials that comes our way when there is friction between what we want to do and the will of God for us.
The calling of God will always have eternity in perspective. We should not just live for the now, although God has no issue with us enjoying everything on earth. He is not against us being wealthy, having leisure time or enjoying all the different gourmets in the world. However, He is a jealous God who does not want work or money to be our god where we only concentrate on the short portion of eternity that represents our time on earth, and neglect investing in eternity.
God wants our will to be in perfect accord with His will for us. He has a specific calling for each of us. What matters most to Him is not our renumeration, promotion or corporate titles, but our availability where He needs us to be a Christian witness for Him.
Our will has to be aligned with God’s to have smooth sailing in our lives. Once we have aligned our will with His will, God’s presence, assurance, and deliverance are assured even if we are faced with tribulation and adversities.
Sermon Series: Smooth Sailing
和鸣响应神的心意
约拿书 1:1-2,17耶和华的话临到亚米太的儿子约拿，说：你起来往尼尼微大城去，向其中的居民呼喊，因为他们的恶达到我面前。… 耶和华安排一条大鱼吞了约拿，他在鱼腹中三日三夜。
当我们选择不顺服神的呼召、祂的旨意和祂对我们生命的计划时，就会有抵触。 这是对基督主权的公然反叛。 我们可以从约拿的生命中学到的许多教训之一是，不要逃离上帝！ 当我们知道自己正在逃避我们的责任和上帝对我们生命的呼召时，灵魂将不会有平安、喜乐或安息。
很明显，上帝对约拿的计划与他对呼召的回应之间存在抵触。 约拿本应前往尼尼微，却跑向他施！ 约拿正朝相反的方向往西走。 这抵触让他历经风浪，被抛入海中，被鲸鱼吞噬，在鱼腹中度过了三天三夜。 如果他听从上帝的呼召和指示去尼尼微，告诉那里的人远离他们的恶行，事情就会容易得多。 至于尼尼微人作何反应那是上帝与他们之间的事——约拿只是一个报信的人。 然而，约拿拒绝顺服神。 同样，当我们想做的事情与上帝对我们的旨意之间存在抵触时，我们的品格也会通过我们遇到的考验而得到塑造。
上帝的呼召永远是具有永恒的意义的。 我们不应该只为现在而活，尽管上帝不介意我们享受地上的一切。 祂并不反对我们变得富有、有闲暇或享尽世界各地的美食。 然而，祂是一位忌邪的神，祂不希望工作或金钱成为我们的神，我们在世上的时间只是永恒中很短暂的一部分，而我们却蝇营狗苟，忽略了对永恒的投资。
上帝希望我们的意志与祂对我们的旨意完全一致。 祂对我们每个人都有特定的呼召。 对祂来说最重要的不是我们的酬劳、晋升或公司头衔，而是我们在祂需要的地方，能成为祂的基督见证人。
为了能够拥有一帆风顺的生命，我们的意志必须与上帝的意志一致。 一旦我们将自己的意志与祂的旨意对齐，即使我们面临苦难和逆境，上帝的同在、保证和拯救将是毋庸置疑的。
讲章系列：一帆风顺
Image Source: pixabay.com