Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Foundry Publishing House of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Thursday, 18 January 2018 "Second Chances" by Jonathan Twitchell - Jonah 2:8—3:10

Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Foundry Publishing House of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Thursday, 18 January 2018 "Second Chances" by Jonathan Twitchell -   Jonah 2:8—3:10
Jonah 2:8 (7) As my life was ebbing away,
I remembered Adonai;
and my prayer came in to you,
into your holy temple.
9 (8) “Those who worship vain idols
give up their source of mercy;
10 (9) but I, speaking my thanks aloud,
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed, I will pay.
Salvation comes from Adonai!”
11 (10) Then Adonai spoke to the fish, and it vomited Yonah out onto dry land.
3:1 The word of Adonai came to Yonah a second time: 2 “Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it the message I will give you.” 3 So Yonah set out and went to Ninveh, as Adonai had said. Now Ninveh was such a large city that it took three days just to cross it. 4 Yonah began his entry into the city and had finished only his first day of proclaiming, ‘In forty days Ninveh will be overthrown,’ 5 when the people of Ninveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. 6 When the news reached the king of Ninveh, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 He then had this proclamation made throughout Ninveh: “By decree of the king and his nobles, no person or animal, herd or flock, is to put anything in his mouth; they are neither to eat nor drink water. 8 They must be covered with sackcloth, both people and animals; and they are to cry out to God with all their might — let each of them turn from his evil way and from the violence they practice. 9 Who knows? Maybe God will change his mind, relent and turn from his fierce anger; and then we won’t perish.”
10 When God saw by their deeds that they had turned from their evil way, he relented and did not bring on them the punishment he had threatened.
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I’m grateful for the story of Jonah. I am encouraged to know that God can still use someone who runs the other way in fear and disobedience. If God can use Jonah, then just maybe God can use me! Certainly, we are challenged by the example of the disciples, who immediately left their nets and followed Jesus. This is the pattern of obedience that we ought to follow. Yet, it seems much more common that God has to come to us a second time like He did for Jonah.
Scripture is seasoned with examples of the different ways we fail to follow God’s call. Sometimes, like Jonah, we run as far away as possible. Other times we make excuses like Moses. Or, like the boy Samuel, we are simply slow to hear and understand God’s voice. The good news is that God comes to us a second time. God is patient and persistent, and continues to invite us to participate in the mission. All the same, we should not take God’s patience for granted, but should practice quick and complete obedience.
When is the best time to obey God's call? When you first heard it. When is the second-best time? Right now.

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Hymn for Today: "Trust and Obey" by John H. Sammis
1. When we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain: Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. 
2. Not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share,
but our toil he doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss,
not a frown or a cross,
but is blest if we trust and obey.
Refrain: Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. 
3. But we never can prove
the delights of his love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor he shows,
for the joy he bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey.
Refrain: Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. 
4. Then in fellowship sweet
we will sit at his feet,
or we'll walk by his side in the way;
what he says we will do,
where he sends we will go;

never fear, only trust and obey.
Refrain: Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. 
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Thought for Today: I hurry, I don’t delay,
to observe your mitzvot.(Psalm 119:60).
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Please pray: That many people in Nepal will come to know Yeshua Messiah and receive the fullness of the Ruach HaKodesh.
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