SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/10/2025 9:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “PT-3 “The Prophet’s Defiance”
Bible Reading and Meditation Reference: Jonah 1:3
Message of the verses: “Yet Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, and paid its fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.”
One of the problems we see in this section of verses is that Jonah was acting as if God reigned in just one place and over only one people (the Jews), but I know that Jonah knew better than this, but because of his prejudice against the Gentiles he did not want to go and preach to them like the Lord told him to. I suppose that he evidently wished that were the case that God was only in one place. This makes me think about Saul of Tarsus as before he became the Apostle Paul, he had the same feelings about the Christians and that is why he was persecuting them. Jonah would later confess that God was the God of all people, but still feared that God would save those in Nineveh, as he just wanted God to be only the God of the people of Israel. He exclaimed to the Lord, “You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and One who relents concerning evil (Johan 4:2). Significantly, Jonah was not afraid of the Ninevites themselves, but of the possibility that God would show the mercy. Jonah knew that the Lord would be compassionate if the Ninevites repented, and he did not want to give them that opportunity.
MacArthur writes “Jonah’s story thus began with an amazing directive from God and an equally astounding act of disobedience on the part of His prophet. Though Jonah’s defiance was deeply disappointing, God had a purpose for it, not only in regard to ancient Israel but also in the grand scope of redemptive history. Jonah went to Joppa to avoid taking God’s message to those outside of Israel. But nearly 800 years later, Peter Bar-Jonah arrived at Joppa to fulfill his God-given mission to the Gentiles (Acts 9:39; 10:9-16). Unlike Jonah, the Apostle Peter obeyed the Lord’s command, travelling from Joppa to Caesarea to the house of a Gentile named Cornelius (10:17-33). There, Peter declared the truth that Jonah sought to suppress. As Peter declared, ‘I most truly comprehend now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the one who fears Him and does righteousness is welcome to Him’ (10:34-35). For Jonah, Joppa represented an egregious act of defiance against God’s mission to the nations; for Peter and the early church, it signified the inclusion of believing Gentiles into the people of God (cf. 11:18).” “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.’”
Spiritual meaning for My Life Today: It is my desire as I write these Spiritual Diaries and place them onto my blogs that the Holy Spirit of God will use them to bring honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ by causing believers to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and to also allow the Holy Spirit of God to call unbelievers to Himself as He gives them an effectual call for salvation.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To trust the Lord to give me and my wife peace as we go through a very difficult time in our lives, and for God to use this difficult time to bring glory to His Son.
9/10/2025 9:56 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment