Learning Life Lessons
I spoke to our NHA Elementary School chapel this morning about the Prophet, Jonah. We all know the story, but do we really know the story? Yeah, he was swallowed by a great fish, which God prepared just for him. He had a change of heart, and he ended up preaching God's message to the people of Nineveh after all. However, that is just a small part of the story.
Jonah never learned the life lessons God wanted him to learn even though he spent three days and nights in a fish. Isn't that incredible? He started out hating the people of Nineveh, and at the end of the book he is still hating them. He was selfish to begin with, and he wanted to get his way. He is still selfish as the story closes. He should have learned to listen to God and trust Him, but it was the people of Nineveh who did that, not Jonah. Even the pagan sailors on the ship were more spiritual than Jonah. What a depressing story in many ways. The person who should have obeyed God and loved all people ran from God and hated people. The people who would have been destroyed by God cried out to Him in fasting, prayer, and trust, so they learned their lesson, and they were spared a disaster.
I spoke to a young man in the jail today, too. He said he was saved when a Christian friend came to him at a low point in his life. He was baptized in a Baptist Church. He went with his grandparents to church. He has read the Bible through at least two times. However, he has been in jail or prison at least 6 times in six years since he turned 18. He knows the truth, but He does not practice it. He has not learned the lessons of life the Lord is trying to teach him. I tried to help him see that. I pray that he will, and I pray that Jonah did at some point in his life, too. I pray that we all will learn God's life lessons very soon.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Micah 1-4.
Jonah never learned the life lessons God wanted him to learn even though he spent three days and nights in a fish. Isn't that incredible? He started out hating the people of Nineveh, and at the end of the book he is still hating them. He was selfish to begin with, and he wanted to get his way. He is still selfish as the story closes. He should have learned to listen to God and trust Him, but it was the people of Nineveh who did that, not Jonah. Even the pagan sailors on the ship were more spiritual than Jonah. What a depressing story in many ways. The person who should have obeyed God and loved all people ran from God and hated people. The people who would have been destroyed by God cried out to Him in fasting, prayer, and trust, so they learned their lesson, and they were spared a disaster.
I spoke to a young man in the jail today, too. He said he was saved when a Christian friend came to him at a low point in his life. He was baptized in a Baptist Church. He went with his grandparents to church. He has read the Bible through at least two times. However, he has been in jail or prison at least 6 times in six years since he turned 18. He knows the truth, but He does not practice it. He has not learned the lessons of life the Lord is trying to teach him. I tried to help him see that. I pray that he will, and I pray that Jonah did at some point in his life, too. I pray that we all will learn God's life lessons very soon.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Micah 1-4.