Dr. Rick Mandl - September 21, 2020
You Can Run But You Can't Hide
Devotional Manuscript: You Can Run But You Can't Hide
By Dr. Rick Mandl, Monday, September 21, 2020
Hey church family. The book of Jonah is the story about a man who ran from God and a God who ran after a man. I want us to think about three lessons we can learn from this prodigal prophet:
Lesson # 1 God's call doesn't guarantee you success.
God has a calling, a plan, a purpose, some some set of directions, for each of us. It’s pretty clear that Jonah did his best to resist God's call on his life: which was to go to preach to the people of Nineveh. Now, eventually he did obey that calling, and he did in fact see incredible success: And by that I mean the whole city of Nineveh—600,000 people—turned to God. But that only happened after a lot of time was wasted and a lot of pain was endured, including a few miserable days spent inside the belly of a big fish.
Lesson # 2. Knowing truth and doing truth are not the same thing.
Jonah knew God’s Word. Read his story and you’ll see that he referred to Old Testament texts no less than eleven times during his prayer from the belly of the fish. But knowing Scripture does not guarantee a godly life. Jonah's words may have been bathed in Bible truth, but his works were bathed in bitter self-will: He ran from the Lord because he knew that his preaching in Nineveh would actually work. Jonah knew God's Word, but he didn't practice it. In John chapter 13, Jesus said... Jesus said, "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. (John 13:17). The blessing doesn’t come from just knowing God’s Word, but in acting on what you know.
Lesson #3. Your willfulness won't stop God's will.
If God wanted Nineveh reached, Nineveh was going to be reached, whether Jonah did it or God had to use somebody else. But as you read the story, you realize that God went to incredible lengths to use Jonah. And that reminds us of the fact that God loves to use the least likely people.
1 Corinthians 1:27, says, " God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." God won't force you to obey Him. But He is very skilled when it comes to the art of persuasion. If His still, small voice to you doesn't work, He will use something else. Proverbs 15:10 says, "Whoever abandons the right path will be severely disciplined;." Which is another way of saying “Your arms are too short to box with God.”
So whatever God's call on your life is, the quicker you say, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening" the better off and happier you'll be. Jonah started out running from God, but then he ran to God and ultimately he ran with God. His story can be ours story. And it can start by running toward our good and gracious God.
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