{"id":12837,"date":"2013-01-05T16:39:13","date_gmt":"2013-01-05T05:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=12837"},"modified":"2013-08-21T18:11:35","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T07:11:35","slug":"16-days-with-jonah-day-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2013\/01\/05\/16-days-with-jonah-day-3\/","title":{"rendered":"16 Days with Jonah: Day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonah 1:3<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a03<\/sup> But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. <\/em><\/p>\n

Acts 10:25-29, 34-36<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

25<\/sup><\/em> As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26<\/sup> But Peter made him get up. \u201cStand up,\u201d he said, \u201cI am only a man myself.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a027<\/sup> While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28<\/sup> He said to them: \u201cYou are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. 29<\/sup> So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?\u201d . . . <\/em><\/p>\n

34<\/sup><\/em> Then Peter began to speak: \u201cI now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35<\/sup> but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36<\/sup> You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Bible is the history of God\u2019s dealing with His people. It includes our \u2018dark side\u2019 as well as our \u2018light (or good) side\u2019.<\/p>\n

Instead of Jonah arising and following God\u2019s call on his life, he arises and flees from God! We would have hoped Jonah would respond as did Peter, God has shown me\u2026so when I was sent for, I came\u2026 <\/em>(Acts 10:28,29) But, it was not to be. In fact, Jonah runs to Joppa: the opposite direction to Nineveh!<\/p>\n

I can understand Jonah\u2019s resistance to God\u2019s command to minister to the people of Nineveh. They had defeated and oppressed the people of Israel. We learn later, Jonah 4:2, that Jonah\u2019s disobedience is fuelled by his distress that God would show compassion rather than punishment! \u00a0But in doing so, Jonah refuses to be a part of God\u2019s dealings with all the people of the world.<\/p>\n

Too often, God\u2019s people become so self-centered that they have no concern for anyone else, let alone their enemies: in this case, the Assyrians.<\/p>\n

Over the years I have made excuses to evade God\u2019s command to share his gospel call to repentance and a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. At times I have not spoken to a neighbour, assisted a work colleague or spent precious time with a distressed person. Sadly, in this way I have refused to be part of God\u2019s work in the world.<\/p>\n

Calling God, strengthen me to respond with joy and commitment to your stirring voice. Forgive my failures. May the Spirit of Christ daily empower me for your service. Amen. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonah 1:3 \u00a03 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[2399],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12837"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12837"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14135,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12837\/revisions\/14135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}