Written by: Nancy Goudie - NGM
Jonah 1 v 1-3
The LORD spoke his word to Jonah son of Amittai: "Get up, go to the great
city of Nineveh and preach against it, because I see the evil things they do."
But Jonah got up to run away from the LORD by going to Tarshish. He went to the
city of Joppa, where he found a ship that was going to the city of Tarshish.
Jonah paid for the trip and went aboard, planning to go to Tarshish to run away
from the LORD.
Notes
"Daniel - its time to get up!" It's morning and my son tries not to
listen to the promptings of his mum. He has heard me, but he is finding it difficult
to obey. Jonah was just like that. He had heard God tell him to preach in Nineveh
- but he was struggling to obey.
I heard about a man who was walking down a road, when God said, "I want you to go to that house over there and lift up the letter box and shout through it that I love the world." The man told God clearly that he could not do that. However, as he walked past the door, the conviction of God fell on him and he said, "Okay God, I will do it." So he walked back to the house, opened up the letter box and shouted the words of John 3 v 16:
"God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life."
He then closed the letter box and started walking down the road. A few minutes later, a man came running out of the house. There was only one person in sight and so he ran after him and said, "Excuse me, but did you shout through my letter box?" He went on to explain that he'd been ready to commit suicide. He was standing on a box with a rope around his neck, feeling that no one cared, when a voice shouted through his letter box. He asked, "Is it true? Does God love me?" That man came to know Jesus all because someone had not only listened but obeyed. Today, if you hear God's voice, remember, it's mega-important to obey him.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for reminding me today that you are looking for me not only
to hear you but to obey you. It's exciting to know that when Jonah eventually
obeyed, a whole nation was saved. Help me to hear, obey and see significant
things happen in me and through me. Amen
Jonah 1 v 4-9
But the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, which made the sea so stormy that
the ship was in danger of breaking apart. The sailors were afraid, and each
man cried to his own god. They began throwing the cargo from the ship into
the sea to make the ship lighter.
But Jonah had gone down far inside the ship to lie down, and he fell fast
asleep. The captain of the ship came and said, "Why are you sleeping?
Get up and pray to your god! Maybe your god will pay attention to us, and
we won't die!"
Then the men said to each other, "Let's throw lots to see who caused these
troubles to happen to us."
When they threw lots, the lot showed that the trouble had happened because
of Jonah. Then they said to him, "Tell us, who caused our trouble? What
is your job? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people?"
Then Jonah said to them, "I am a Hebrew. I fear the LORD, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the land."
Notes
Wake up! Don't you realise there's a huge storm out there and we could die?
Jonah was sound asleep, completely oblivious to the danger he and his shipmates
were in. Isn't that like us? Sometimes we are so fast asleep we are oblivious
to a world of people who are going to a lost eternity. I believe the church
needs a wake-up call today to deeper intimacy with Jesus. Wake up church!
We cannot pull others to safety if we are fast asleep.
Two years ago, God issued a wake-up call to NGM (the missionary organisation I head up with my husband, Ray). Although we have always been passionate about God and desperate to see people saved, we realise now that we were really fast asleep until God came and kissed us with his love. In 2003, God whispered in our ears that he wanted us to come up close to him because there were things he wanted to say. In response to this, we started getting up very early each morning. We spent two hours alone with God and discovered that it wasn't long enough. We couldn't get enough of Jesus. He told us that he loved us and we fell in love with him like never before. He put a "Woohoo" (an indescribable joy which does not go away even in hard circumstances) in our hearts and a deeper passion in our spirits to see the poor, broken and hurting come to know and love God. Since that time, NGM has completely changed - we are madly in love with God and we are seeing loads more people come to know Jesus. We don't spend time with God because we ought to, but because we passionately love him.
Are you asleep? We were - and we didn't know it.
Prayer
Lord, I pray that you will come and wake me up with your kiss of love. I don't
want to remain asleep, comfortable and ineffective. Lord, I want to have
a deep passion in my heart for Jesus and see lives changed by the power of
God. Amen
Jonah 1 v 10-13
The men were very afraid, and they asked Jonah, "What terrible thing did
you do?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD because he had told
them.)
Since the wind and the waves of the sea were becoming much stronger, they said
to him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
Jonah said to them, "Pick me up, and throw me into the sea, and then it
will calm down. I know it is my fault that this great storm has come on you."
Instead, the men tried to row the ship back to the land, but they could not,
because the sea was becoming more stormy.
Notes
You can run but you cannot hide! That saying is so true. Here was Jonah running
away from God, but he should have known that no matter where he went he could
not hide from God. Psalm 139 v 7-8 says,
"Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are there."
Through the last two years in NGM (the mission organisation I lead with my husband Ray), God has been moving in extraordinary ways, bringing us into an even deeper intimacy with him. We have all fallen headlong in love with Jesus all over again. We just cannot get enough of him. One of our prayers during this time has been that God would bring any hidden sins in us to the surface so that we could deal with them. During the last two years, God has been exposing pride, selfishness, greed, jealousy, lack of concern for others - things we sometimes did not know existed within us, as well as things like lust and pornography. As people have confessed their sin, God has been setting them free so that they no longer need to be controlled by these things. When Jonah confessed his "sin" to the sailors, it meant that he was then on the road to putting things right with God.
If you, like Jonah, are knowingly running away from God, do remember: you can run, but you cannot hide. God will always be with you - not to hit you over the head with a hammer, but to gently woo you back to himself. You see, he loves you too much to leave you where you are.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that you love me so much. Help me to know and to understand
that love more and more. Please expose anything hidden within me and set
me free from anything that would keep me in bondage and lead me away from
you. Change me from within - make me more like Jesus. Amen
Jonah 1 v 14-17
So the men cried to the LORD, "LORD, please don't let us die because of
this man's life; please don't think we are guilty of killing an innocent person.
LORD, you have caused all this to happen; you wanted it this way." So
they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea became calm. Then
they began to fear the LORD very much; they offered a sacrifice to the LORD
and made promises to him.
The LORD caused a big fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish
for three days and three nights.
Notes
I was interviewed recently for a magazine article and one of the questions
I was asked was: "What has been your greatest challenge in life?" My
answer was this:
The biggest challenge of my life was not when my husband decided to give up Christianity; nor was it when a couple of years later we left our home, cushy jobs and friends to come and live in England and work for God; nor was it when we heard from God that we should "live by faith" and not have a regular salary; nor was it when our church decided to stop supporting us - which left us with £35 per month to pay bills, mortgage, food, etc; nor was it when I was told that the baby in my womb could be dead; nor was it when my mum died suddenly and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. My biggest challenge every day in life is to keep my eyes on Jesus and to keep trusting him for everything. Often I feel I am walking on water, knowing that if I look around me at all the circumstances of the wind and the waves, then I will, like Peter, begin to sink, but if I keep my eyes on my faithful Jesus and keep trusting him, then - even although the wind and the waves roar - Jesus will lead me to safety and victory.
Jonah was about to face the biggest challenge of his life. Could he trust God to somehow get him out of this mess? He would never have imagined that God would provide a fish to swallow him. Today if you are facing problems, turn your eyes on Jesus and put your trust firmly on him. He's the greatest rescuer ever!
Prayer
Lord, today I put my faith and trust in you. No matter how much the wind and
the waves seem huge and overwhelming, help me to keep my eyes firmly fixed
on you. Thank you that you are my rescuer and that nothing is impossible
for you. Amen
Jonah 2 v 1-6
While Jonah was inside the fish, he prayed to the LORD his God and said,
"When I was in danger,
I called to the LORD, and he answered me.
I was about to die, so I cried to you, and you heard my voice.
You threw me into the sea, down, down into the deep sea.
The water was all around me, and your powerful waves flowed over me.
I said, ‘I was driven out of your presence, but I hope to see your Holy
Temple again.'
The waters of the sea closed around my throat.
The deep sea was all around me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
When I went down to where the mountains of the sea start to rise,
I thought I was locked in this prison for ever, but you saved me from the pit
of death,
LORD my God."
Notes
"You don't know me but my name is Clare (name changed). I want to let you
know how much you and your music have affected my life." This was the beginning
of an email one of our NGM bands, "Steve", received some time ago.
Clare told us that her life had never been happy; she grew up with a drug-addicted
mother and an abusive grandfather. Her own father killed himself on her 7th birthday
and she has been in and out of children's homes all her life. She experimented
with drugs and was so depressed one night that she decided to commit suicide.
She had the pills ready when she received a text message from a friend in England
who told her all about an "awesome band" called Steve. Something drew
her to the band's website and she began to listen to some of their tracks. She
found herself liking what she heard and suddenly her mood lifted. Every day as
she listened to the words and music she began to realise that God is indeed real.
God had begun to rescue her from her prison of shame and abuse.
Jonah must have felt a little like that. Everything in his life had gone wrong. He was trapped in an impossible situation. His life had been saved, but what a life stuck in the belly of a whale. Ever taken two minutes to think through what that must have been like? If anything is going to send you over the edge then I am sure this must be it. But in the midst of an impossible situation, like Clare, Jonah started to praise God and the depression lifted. God had saved his life and now he was relying on him to set him free from his prison.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that no matter how hard life is, you are always there with
me. Thank you that you understand all that I go through. Remind me, Lord,
when life is tough to continue to praise you and see you rescue me from all
my "prisons". Amen
Jonah 2 v 7-10
"When my life had almost gone,
I remembered the LORD.
I prayed to you, and you heard my prayers in your Holy Temple.
"People who worship useless idols give up their loyalty to you.
But I will praise and thank you while I give sacrifices to you, and I will
keep my promises to you.
Salvation comes from the LORD!"
Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and the fish threw up Jonah onto the dry land.
Notes
In 2004, I was asked by Christian Aid to visit Uganda and be a presenter on
their film about poverty and the pandemic of AIDS in Africa. I met so many
people in desperate situations. Many lived in houses where we would not even
put a dog, and yet as I interviewed them for the Christian Aid film, I heard
story upon story of how Jesus had transformed their lives. Their faces shone
with the beauty of Jesus.
Let me tell you about Jane. She lived in a simple mud hut with no furniture and no bed. She sat on the mud floor with insects crawling over her as she was too ill with the virus to walk, yet as I interviewed her, her main concern was not that she and her family had no food or that she was so ill, but that unknown to me I had an insect crawling on my arm. I will never forget her - her face shone with love for Jesus. These people have nothing and yet they have everything because they have him. I was shocked at times, humbled over and over again and astounded by the faith and the love I encountered.
Often it's when we have nothing that we realise what is important in our lives. That's what happened to Jonah. Suddenly in the belly of the whale everything was clear - nothing and no one was more important than God. Jonah determined that if he ever got out of this mess he would put God first. It was only when he had nothing that he realised that even when stuck in the belly of a whale with no means of escape, with God on his side he had everything.
Prayer
Forgive me, Lord, that so many other things in my life cloud my vision of you.
Help me, Lord, to realise that you are the most important person in my life
and that even if I have nothing - no material possessions, no family and
no friends - if I have you, I have everything. Amen
Jonah 3 v 1-5
The LORD spoke his word to Jonah again and said, "Get up and go to the
great city Nineveh, and preach to it what I tell you to say."
So Jonah obeyed the LORD and got up and went to Nineveh. It was a very large
city; just to walk across it took a person three days. After Jonah had entered
the city and walked for one day, he preached to the people, saying, "After
40 days, Nineveh will be destroyed!"
The people of Nineveh believed God. They announced that they would stop eating
for a while, and they put on rough cloth to show their sadness. All the people
in the city did this, from the most important to the least important.
Notes
There's a little verse (James 1 v 22) that contains a huge truth. It says,
"Do what God's teaching says; when you only listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves!"
Some time ago, in one of our concerts/events, my husband heard God say that he wanted to heal someone from leprosy that night. Ray struggled with obeying God's word because the circumstances told him that no one would have leprosy in England! But, obeying and trusting God, he gave out the word. That night two people were healed from leprosy - both had just flown in from Africa. Sometimes our fears can stop us from seeing God move in power.
I am sure Jonah wished he had not just listened to God's promptings to go to Nineveh but had actually done what the Lord said. He would have saved himself a lot of trouble and heartache. I have written a book called H.O.T. Faith which teaches on three principles in the Bible which are designed to produce strong faith within us:
Hearing
Obeying
Trusting
When you combine these principles … watch out for a miracle! That's what Moses did when, despite his fears, he confronted Pharaoh; similarly, when Esther entered into the king's throne room under the threat of death; also Gideon who, with 300 men and a word from God, destroyed a huge army. The consequences of each of these stories and many others in the Bible were that each person's faith was increased and their nation was profoundly affected for God.
Jonah had no idea that when he not only listened but obeyed and trusted God, a whole nation would repent of their sin. WOW! If we hear, obey and trust God, could we too affect our nation for God? I believe we could.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that you can use ordinary people like me to affect a nation.
Lord, I want to see my nation profoundly changed by the power of God. Help
me to hear, obey and trust you in every area of my life and expect miracles
to happen. Amen
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes