Like Jonah, do you ever feel like you're in the belly of a whale? Would you ever think to give that whale a name....the name of "Grace"?  In the midst of a challenge, do you stop to consider it is God's way of showing grace? Lots to contemplate from last night's Bible study on Jonah by Priscilla Shirer......

"But what seems like it’s been designed to kill us may actually be God’s way of preserving us, rescuing us from what could be a far more dire consequence.  Maybe, just maybe, the more vast the consequences we face, the more vast the work He plans to perform through us after it eases up or passes. When we feel His correction particularly heavy upon us, it’s sometimes not so much in proportion to past or recent sin as in proportion to the great task awaiting us when He’s done, when we’ve endured it." If Jonah had not been swallowed by the whale, he would have drowned - God's preservation - God's grace.

Thought-provoking quote from John Piper,  "Adversity is redemptive; it’s not merely punitive." And more from Priscilla,  "God isn’t out to hurt you; He’s out to redeem you. He’s out to get you back to your senses, back to where you realize you’ve been headed the wrong direction, back where you’re desperate to turn this misstep around if given the opportunity. Back to a place where you want His forgiveness as badly as you wanted your independence, where you crave accountability the way you used to crave your freedom, where the things you once cherished about your life with Him become the things you now desire more than life itself." (I want to bold every single word in that paragraph!)

Isaiah 30:18 "The LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him."

Romans 5:3-4 "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces hope."

Hebrews 12:6 "For those whom the LORD loves He disciplines...."

Did you notice the truth in the Hebrews verse? God disciplines those He loves. It does NOT feel good at the time but that discipline is to stop us from going down the wrong path, to preserve us, to give us the opportunity to restore our relationship with Him. While we're in the belly of the circumstance, like Jonah, we can call out to God. Right now - whatever our circumstances -  it's our chance to call out to God.

Jonah 2:1 "Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish."

God doesn't need us to accomplish His purposes but because He cares, He wants to give us another chance, to make us usable, to turn our mess into a masterpiece. Through His sacrifice on the cross,  Christ has won the right to declare us approved and acceptable in the eyes of the Father once we acknowledge our fault, accept our discipline, and ask for forgiveness, and like Jonah, we can be as usable as ever. A forgiven sinner is always welcome at the throne of God - a place called Grace. 

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart." The take-away from last night's Bible study on Jonah is, as we learn to follow God more wholeheartedly, delighting in Him, God will change our desires to become His desires and therefore OUR heart's desire will be HIS desire.

When God gives us an interruption opportunity, we don't have a lot of options on how we will respond. He's giving us the opportunity to participate in His purpose and we can either obey or choose to disobey. Here's an interesting thought - most disobedience involves a simple choice to stay put. By choosing to do nothing, we are really making a decision to delay obedience - which is what ladies? Yes, delaying obedience is disobedience.

Another interesting thought, when we choose disobedience and run from God's opportunity, we are doing something very unusual - we are actually putting ourselves in the very spot of punishment. We find the people or the situation which is most subject to bad consequences and then we become part of the negative results. But God is patient with us, He doesn't stop loving us when we make a mess of things....in fact, He is really good at taking our messes and doing something good with them - like Jonah.

The question came up last night, did Jonah ever really obey God with a willing heart or did he grudgingly go through the motions? The book of Jonah concludes with Jonah being angry and depressed. It appears Jonah's attitude was never in the right place. I don't know the answer for sure but since Jonah was the author of this book of the Bible, He at some point had learned what God wanted and then was able to write this narrative (inspired by God of course) on this portion of his life.

Jonah is an example to us what I mentioned above - running from God actually puts us in the very spot of punishment. Jonah is also an example of how God can use our messes and make something good of them. Let me end with this - the Lord longs to be gracious to us, He may punish us for disobedience but He does not stop loving us......

Isaiah 30:18

"The LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him."

Psalm 89:30-33

"If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgements, if they violate My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, nor deal falsely in My faithfulness."

Ladies, we are continuing our journey in a new Bible study Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted. Feel free to join us absolutely anytime either in person, in blog land, or just simply by checking in now and then. You don't have to be in attendance every week and can easily join in at anytime. We're learning to tell our stories, share our wisdom, listen to one another, and pray together all in an effort to sharpen, challenge, and inspire one another in strengthening our relationship with God.

I love the introduction to this study, "Welcome to Jonah. He knows how a life interrupted feels, and he's got a firsthand account of how yielding to God is the best decision after all. Join us, won't you? I think we'll have a 'whale' of a time."  Cracks me up!

You know the story of Jonah - the storm, the whale.....but did you know that Jonah was the only prophet to receive instruction from God and he ran from it? Do you know the history and the reason he didn't want to be obedient? Just very briefly, Jonah was a devoted countrymen with a deep-seeded allegiance to his people. The city of Nineveh was filled with evil, vile, ruthless, brutal people - enemies of the Israelites! Jonah didn't want to go to the Ninevites - he didn't want to help a people that were intent on hurting his people! So, he ran the opposite direction trying to get away from God's purpose for him.

We may also run from God's purpose for us - either literally running like Jonah or maybe "running" in our attitude. We may physically show up everyday to do our jobs, perform our duties, or take care of our responsibilities at home but we don't really want to be there and we just go through the motions with a "have-to attitude".

There's a big difference in having to do something or getting to do something - and it's evident in our attitudes. One conveys duty, obligation, drudgery; the other conveys the privilege of the task. With the "have-to" attititude, our perspective gets lost in our ingratitude and we victimize ourselves. With the "get-to" attitude, we see a privilege, a gift, an opportunity and maybe even beauty in it.

We can continue to approach our tasks with a disengaged attitude and an aloofness which shows those around us or for whom we work, that we'd rather be doing something else. And...this approach validates our bad attitude, emphasizing to ourselves that these people or tasks are not worthy of our time and are unimportant.

God's instructions may not be convenient or easy but can we learn to respond with joy instead of duty? Can we look at His plan as the honor of partnering with Him in His purpose? Can we consider His interruption as a privilege and thereby have a significant life because of our obedience?

As I ask myself these questions, I realize a lot of the time I have the "have-to" attitude - I have a long way to go to have a "get-to" attitude. I wonder if I can really be engaged and interested and grateful for whatever God has given me THIS day. So.....I'm looking forward to practical wisdom from God's Word in this bible study to equip me for the "get-to" attitude!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."